Prophecy
by StormRaven333
Summary: She was prophecised eons ago. She was everything her name implied. Powerful, ferocious, a natural force to be reckoned with. Both sides want her, and now the hunt begins...[COMPLETE!]
1. Prelude

From the author: This is just my view of what might have happened following the end of the AvP 2 game.

Prelude. 

Harrison has just escaped out of the Xenomorph Queen's chamber after battling the Queen and her children in which he emerged victorious. Running towards the drop ship with all haste and looking back every so often to shoot at the drones gaining on him. He leaps over the edge of the hive to see the drop ship hovering in the air not far away. About 10 paces from the drop ship, Harrison turns once more to cover his own back from approaching drones when a new Queen, or probably the previous one that possibly faked death, rise up from on top of the ledge, screeching in fury towards the sky. Suddenly missiles launch from the drop ship, hitting the Queen head on, killing her instantly. At that moment, two Preatorians emerge to finish off the intruder that violated their home and killed their queen. Harrison turned towards the drop ship to make his escape. There was no way he could take on two Preatorians as he didn't have a minigun. Thankfully the ramp of the drop ship was lowered already. Harrison made the jump on bored and the drop ship closed the ramp before the Preatorians could jump inside and it sped off into the sky, the Preatorians roaring angrily at their failure to kill their prey.

Inside the drop ship, Harrison was reunited with the rest of his fellow marines after he was betrayed and separated from them at the forward observation pods. Without hesitating, Harrison spoke into his comlink to the pilot, Johnson.

" Make for the labs and get me a connection with Tomiko."

There was a moment of static as the connection was made and Tomiko's voice was heard once more.

"_Are you ok?"_ Tomiko asked with concern.

"We did it! Were coming for you!" Harrison said in relief.

"_You'll pass on the data to my father?"_ Tomiko asked, changing the subject.

"You can give it to him yourself. We're airborne now."

"_Get clear then. Hurry."_

"What are you talking about? I'm on my way" Harrison protested, confused.

"_No time."_

"Don't give up on me Tomiko…you hear me."

"_They're not going to save this place…I won't let them."_

"Whatever you're doing…stop. Get to the landing bay."

"_What's your first name anyway?"_

"Andrew."

"_Good luck Andrew. Tomiko out."_

"Tomiko…TOMIKO?"

Tomiko didn't respond and Johnson's voice entered the ship's cargo bay, elerting everyone's attention.

"_I'm reading power spikes off the scale. Hold on everyone."_

Then an earth shattering explosion erupted into the air from were the facility was, rocking the ship.

"Tomiko…" Harrison said breathlessly.

Later…

The drop ship has boarded the U.S.S. Verloc and the ship has all thrusters on for the trip back to Earth. The project on the study of Xenomorphs was a failure. Billions of dollars were lost as well as many, many lives. The U.S.S. Verloc glides in silence towards the Reflection nebulae, away from the alien inhabited planet known as LV 1201. For minutes the ship went on in silence but it's not over yet. A familiar ship lurks in the darkness a safe distance away from the U.S.S. Verloc. Alien thrusters at full throttle, the Predator ship follows the U.S.S. Verloc, and activating its cloak, the Predator ship vanishes from sight.


	2. Part 1

Please just bare with me here. This is my first fic up and my third attempt and I finally decided to settle for this one.

_**Disclaimer: I own me, Sarket, Drekane, Tania and all my other characters to come. Fox owns the characters mentioned in the prelude and the U.S.S. Verloc.**_

_**Please R+R and no flames please. I've lived in a household of 2 Leos and 1 Aries. I'm a Pisces and that means I'm water and water does not like fire.**_

_**I'll rain down you if you flame me! Lol**_

_**Anyhoo…here's part 1**_

**That odd feeling.**

In the mess hall of the Verloc…

_I look at the lab doors through the glass cylinder that contains me. Light orange liquid surrounds my fetal positioned figure while little bubbles rise up and curl around my body and cause strands of my blue-black hair to sway across my eyes. Well…I think it's blue-black, but it's hard to tell because the orange liquid distorts your vision. Many tubes and cords randomly surround me. Some are piercing my skin probably feeding my body nutrients while others are simply attached here and there to monitor my life signs._

The door to the lab opens and Dr Philips walks in. The man that's responsible for me being here. I close my eyes and keep quiet, faking that I'm still not aware of things yet and forcefully keep my vitals to just below normal. I do this to trick them because I'm not strong enough. I want to stay here long enough until the right time. I feel an uplifting energy slowly get stronger every day from the pit of my stomach. I know it's my power. You see…I wasn't born. I was created.

"Storm?…Storm?" Came the voice of Tania.

Storm snaps out of her daydream, the darkness of space enveloping her view once again. She looks down at her left hand, feeling almost cold coffee creep over her fingers from a tilted Styrofoam cup holding the liquid. Quickly, she uprights the cup to stop the coffee from spilling further and looks into the red eyes of Tania.

Tania is also a genetic experiment created two years before me. That makes her 20 and me 18 in normal years. We look human but we are different in more ways than one, but our origins remain the same and that's what lead us to become close friends.

"You were daydreaming about your first year weren't you?" Tania asked in understanding. Storm looked back to the emptiness of space outside the mess hall windows of the Verloc. There was no need to answer Tania's question for the look on Storm's face confirmed it. Tania sighed and was about to say something else when she notices a worried look cross Storm's face.

"Storm…what's wrong?" Tania asked concerned.

Storm didn't answer right away and a look of determination entered Tania's eyes.

"Come on," Tania began, "I know your psychic. There's obviously something bugging you. What is it?"

"I'm not sure Tania. It feels strange, but I think that there's something out there." Storm said in a whisper, a hint of worry in her voice.

"Oooo…the Xenos are floating through space after us." Tania jokingly sang to lighten up the situation.

"I'm serious Tania…I really am." Storm exclaimed to back her feelings up.

"Oh well. I believe you. It's not like your powers have failed before." Tania babbled to defend herself. Tania turned her gaze to the powerful back thrusters of the ship propelling them through space on the left side of the window, then turned to look into the emptiness of space just past the thrusters.

"Are you sure Storm…?" Tania began. Her brow furrowing slightly with confusion, "…I mean…if you say that there's something out there, then how come we cant see anything?" Tania turned her gaze to look into Storm's dark purple-blue eyes flaring like electricity, a sign of Storm tapping into her power, before going to normal, as she waited for an answer.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out." Storm whispered.

**Stowaway. **

On board the Verloc…

Somewhere in the lower deck engine room of the Verloc, a dark shadow scuttles across the floor down the passage. As black as night and adorned with spikes running down its back and tail, the face hugger hunts the surrounding area for any potential host.

Thanks to my Queen, who risked her life in the distraction during that trespasser's retreat on the edge of the hive, I managed to escape and crawl underneath the big rock to the hard skinned machine that was spitting out fire and hovering in the air. I jumped on it and slipped inside the storage area before the human could see me. My mother… my Queen…didn't survive. But I…her successor…escaped the big bang and have remained hidden…until now. But now…I must a host…so I can fulfill my legacy. 

Still…her search continues.

Then it happened…

The presence of another life fills my senses. I can smell it. Feel its heat against my thick skin. 

A sense of desperation fills it's being.

I MUST find it. 

Immediately the face hugger crouches closer to the ground in a stalking stance and runs across the floor silently. A harsh rattling noise begins to fill the air, getting louder and louder despite the monotonous thrum of the generators in the engine room. The face hugger crawls further and peeks in between two generators. There, one of the crew members, is sitting with his back in the corner were the wall meets the warm side of the generator snoring loudly with an empty bottle of some alcoholic drink lying loosely on the floor from his left hand. The dumbass drank himself to sleep! His head layed back against the wall with his mouth gaping wide open and still making that horrible loud noise.

This is too easy but it's a good reason to shut him up! 

The face hugger sprang forward, using its tail to launch and gripped its long finger-like legs around the human's head. Instinctively, the tail wrapped around the neck to secure its position and to make sure that it had all control over its victim. It eased a long tube down his throat and he started to gag from the reflex of the foreign object sliding down his throat. To the face hugger, it was like slipping your feet into warm water and relaxation overwhelms you, but it could feel warm liquid pushing up against its seed-laying tube. Obviously the poor guy was trying to vomit but failed and relaxed, blacking out from lack of oxygen due to the tail tightening around his neck. His death will be inevitable.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

Follow the leader.

On board the Predator ship…

The cockpit was almost devoid of light making all of the elaborate designs on all the metal walls to cast deep and dark shadows across them. A heavy mist swirled across the floor concealing it and it was the only thing that shone as bright as the pin pricks of the stars dancing across the windows. Red, yellow and green lights would flicker on and off in patterns. There was also the chirping of the computers monitoring new data and the occasional 'click' in the pauses of the computers' chirps coming from a dark figure sitting in a large chair.

A metal door to the cockpit hissed open and Elder Dærensé strode into the control room, purple cape twirling behind him. His dreadlocks were ash gray with silver clips that hung down to his elbows. His eyes were red and his tusks were slightly longer and sharper. His skin was light green mottled with brown speckling. He stood 7.6 feet tall and was still dressed in his full black armament since the hunt started. He addressed the other predator in the pilot's seat by squeezing his shoulder slightly.

"How goes the chase Sarket?"

"We are closing in on the Ooman ship. Unfortunately they managed to get a good head start. From what we know about ooman technology, they have become more advanced over the past 100 years and we cant use full engine power or our cloak will be disabled." Sarket held the remaining air in his lungs because the Elder was known to have a split persona and tended to go from one extreme of anger to taking something rather amusing. Of coarse, the older predator took on his 'friendlier' side and started to laugh, his mandibles clicking and his chest quivering with his attempt to not burst out. Instead, he gave a soft chuckle. He mused, "Well, well, well…that just makes the hunt more interesting."

Elder Dærensé bowed his head before turning on his heel to walk out of the control room. Sarket's lower mandibles went slack as they hung in a Predator's expression of surprise. For the first time, Drekane who was in the co-pilot's seat, sneered at Sarket's expression and started to chuckle himself. Sarket noticed this and turned to face Drekane.

"What? It's not everyday that Elder Dærensé is having a good dread day!"

A comment like that would have sent even his best friend reeling with laughter, but Drekane just snorted and rolled his eyes, turning back to the controls.

Sarket just felt defeated at that point, sighed and shook his head, "Will you ever see the bright side of things?"

Drekane gave a humph and said in a harsh voice, "Let me think about that…NO! Now shut up and follow your orders.

Sarket shrugged.

_**So…whatcha think? **_


	3. Nightmare

I'm baaaack! And with another chapter too! Now look…I'm going to update the chapters separately now ok because it's hard to keep up with expectations. All my loyal fans are starting to threaten me!

**Pred and M1dn1te…this is for you and all my other fans out there!**

**Anyhoo…on with the show…**

**oOo**

The nightmare.

In the Sleeping quarters of the Verloc…

"I think that we should both get some sleep. Perhaps the stress of this whole situation and all is finally getting to us." Tania said with a yawn.

Storm stopped in front of her quarter's door, "Maybe you're right." Storm said in a voice almost to the point of a whisper as she took out her key card and slid it down the slot to bypass the door's locks and began to step inside.

Tania leaned her head in the doorway. "You're sure you'll be alright? You look a bit sluggish."

"Yeah…I'm fine. Extreme fatigue does that to me. Makes me go all zombie-like." Storm said, stifling another yawn.

"Well…I'll put a 'Do not disturb' sign on your door and leave it up to you to decide when you want to get up in the 'morning'…or 'afternoon'." Tania said smiling.

"Thanx Tan'. G-night."

"G-night thunder-head!"

Storm managed to summon what little energy she had left to conjure up a small smile before allowing the door to slide shut. She got rid of her scientific white garb that she hated so much. It reminded her of the terrible past that she went through. Dr Phillips, the asshole responsible for creating her, used to treat her lower than dirt, betting that he treated amoeba with more respect. He was behind illegal human genetic engineering at a secret facility called 'The Institute' which was disguised as one of the mountains in Africa. There was a similar place called 'The School' which resided in Colorado in America. The experiments there managed to break free and escape, and with help, managed to bring those snakes responsible to justice. Unfortunately, Dr Phillips, who was in university at the time, was 'inspired' and a 'great fan' of the bastard behind The School when he read about it splashed across the news. He decided then that he would follow in their footsteps and finish thee previous doctor's work, as he believed that they were right to do this and that it would help perfect mankind in the future. Did it ever bother them about the lives they were destroying in the process? No. Did they even care? No. In truth…they didn't give a damn.

Storm's eyes narrowed in anger and she flung the offensive coat over a chair on the other side of her small but comfortable room. The lights were off, and to a human, it will seem pitch black but to Storm, her eyes made the room seem it was cast in faint moonlight. But that didn't stop the coat from landing rather ungracefully across the chair. Even though she wasn't a scientist. It helped her to blend in and get around without confrontation. It also hid what she possessed.

She sat down on the bed and climbed into the covers.

The Institute. She could recall the tests performed on her for strength of mind, body and all body matter including bone density. That used to hurt because they had to chip off a piece and extract it. Then they would half starve her and cram her into a thick glass cage, which could block her power. Her mind. There was no escape that time. Dr Phillips wouldn't risk an escape and have his work come to an end.

Then a miracle occurred. Who would have thought that a satellite would be taking pictures of that particular part of Africa? Well…it was…and it picked up the heat signature hidden underground. They came and rescued us, Tania and myself from The Institute. I say rescue, not that they really did 'rescue us'. All they did was breach the area and Tania and myself took the opportunity to escape during the uproar. The other experiments were lost, probably killed to eliminate the evidence. We stuck together, and when they found us in the corridors, we refused to be separated we were so terrified. That's when they decided to take us in. We learned to trust them afterwards and live with them…and we still do.

"Thank you Weyland…" Storm managed to say before falling asleep.

"_What is this place? It's all dark and- what's this slime on the floor… eew."_

_Storm lifts her foot from the skeletal floor, the slime clinging in long transparent hairline tendrils. She hears a faint 'Skreeeeeeeeeeeee' echo off the walls in the darkness and a heavy burden, like a dull head ache press her brain along with the feeling of a heavy cloud surrounding her. The air is thick with moisture and humid and has the faint smell of death lingering in it._

_Something stirs in the darkness and a huge black shield appears. It lifts, revealing silver blades of swords. But it's not swords…it's the teeth of something. Its whole body is revealed and it looks like a skeleton fossil of some dinosaur that is yet to be discovered. _

_She looks around and the walls come to life. Smaller serpents become visible, baring teeth and hissing but not attacking._

_A feeling of fleeing from them overwhelms her…but she can't move. Has fear cemented her to the spot? No. She looks down to see that she is covered in the slimy goop and her feathers…her beautiful feathers-_

_A loud 'THUMP' and she slowly looks up to see the monstrosity bearing down on her and ROARS- _

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Storm screams bloody murder and jolts abruptly upwards in bed, the roar of the creature still fading in her ears, gasping for air, covered in sweat and then the sound of her own heartbeat thumping in her ears, taking over the roar entirely.

It took a few seconds but when Storm finally realized that she was alone in her room, she begins to calm down.

"It was just a dream…" she whispered, "just a dream…"

So…R+R already! Lol 

**Storm signing off.**


	4. Self realization

_A/N: At last…I updated! Thanks to all of you who reviewed…I feel so loved!_

oOo

**Self realization.**

In the engine room of the Verloc…

Consciousness sparks and a mental eye comes to life, the image of the creature fading. The 'eye' furrows with confusion…

_**(It had abilities that rival mine…but how can that be? - )**_

The youngling is distracted from that trail of thought by a loud, echoing, _thump…thump…thump, _vibrate it's body to the core. It tries to 'look' around. It's dark and it feels warm and wet and very uncomfortable due to the small space that seems to be getting smaller with every passing second.

_**( This can't be the end…trapped…have to…break free…)**_

oOo

The crewmember wakes up beside the generator in the engine room from his drunken sleep. His eyelids flutter sluggishly as he groans, pulling his body forward from its relaxed position. His arm with the bottle moves forward, causing the bottom of the bottle to make a high-pitched rattling noise as it rubs along the metal grate of the floor. The sharp sound brings the man into full alertness. He felt for the first time, a tightness in his chest and of coarse…the hangover. He groans and puts his free hand to his forehead and his eyes wonder to the lifeless spider thing on the floor. It was lying on its back with its many legs curled in towards its fleshy underside like any other dead arthropod. Its tail was coiled, but lay loosely to one side. Its black body lay there glistening with slime already drying up in places due to the long exposure to the air. He blinks, making sure that what he's seeing is not alcohol-induced hallucination. He opens his eyes, but its still there, just as lifeless as before.

"What in God's name-"

A sharp agonizing pain ripping through his chest cuts him off. He drops the bottle and clutches his chest, the bottle tinkers noisily away from him as he winces in pain.

"Ag…Jesus…what the hell?"

oOo

_**( Must… **'Snap'**…break…)**_

There is the sound of bone splintering followed by the muffled sounds of swearing and groans of pain making their way through the thick walls of flesh.

_**(…FREE…)**_

oOo

"Ooooh God…AAAAAAAAGH-"

He doesn't even finish his sentence as splinters of bone, blood and gore erupt in a fountain from his exploding chest. The chest buster propels outward from the spray of blood and lands rather sluggishly on the floor and rolls to a halt about two meters from the now bloody corpse. It lay there unmoving.

_**( Free- but…)**_ It lifts it's head off the hard floor and 'looks' at its surroundings.

_**( This isn't home. If I am to be a Queen then I must create a safe haven for my young to come. )**_

With a new purpose to fulfill, the chest buster rights itself from its pathetic position on the floor and starts to slither toward the darkness and towards the engine core, It's exoskeleton already pulsing from the next developed stage of it's life clawing underneath it.

oOo

Ok…gory chapter…at least I thought it was gory…until I read Fire Redhead's next chapter on Hunter 2 'The pit'…now I think that this is but a shadow in comparison…

R+R


	5. Memories of a recent past

A/N: Next update! I know…I know…I am the greatest! HA but I want to say is that I DO NOT lay claim to the events that happened in this conversation to follow besides the way that I did it and how I interpreted and reacted to the events that happened in the AVP 2 game on the predator mission. I do however own Ray'jin (yes you get to meet him!) He's my creation and yes…he is meant to take the role of the predator character that you play in the game.

**Just so you don't get confuzzled. The pred text is meant to be in italic (sometimes funny things happen when I submit) so it's a direct translate to English (in most cases) and the 20 years mentioned is in human years (from pred to human. Remember the direct translate.) As predator years are different to ours.**

**OK I'll stop babbling now…**

oOo

Memories of a recent past.

On board the Predator ship…

One of the younger warriors made his way towards the kitchens. He was still dressed in his Armour that was a metallic dark blue and he had silver clips in his black dreadlocks that tapped together as they hung just over his shoulders. His skin was pale green with brown speckling and a few darker stripes lacing his muscular body. A few cuts and bruises covered in the healing blue gel tainted his skin's patterns but that was the only minor injuries that appeared to have been sustained from a battle fought not so long ago. He had just come from his trophy room were he had finished cleaning and mounting the skull and spinal column of Ooman prey that was deemed worthy of the hunt. His mandibles twitched and he chittered at the pleasure of winning the battle. He came to the kitchens and the automatic door opened. He was rather hungry after using most of his energy hunting down the Ooman and taking down the Hard meats that got in his way. He prepared himself a piece of meat from the storage room, sat down at one of the metal tables and began to rip at the raw flesh and chewing slowly.

He just finished his meal when the door slid open revealing Sarket.

"_Ah…there you are Ray'jin." _Sarket said, his mandibles curving up slightly into a smile and then inclining his head. Ray'jin bowed his head slightly acknowledging Sarket. Sarket moved to sit at the metal table so that he was facing Ray'jin.

Ray'jin raised an eyebrow, "_Aren't you supposed to be piloting the ship?"_

"_Yeah…but Drekane is being hard as Kainde Amedha skin again. I needed to take a brake from him, so I put the ship on auto." _Sarket explained.

"_Tell me something I don't know!" _Ray'jin said with a smile. They both started clicking with laughter.

"_Whatever!" _Sarket smirked,_ "I came here to ask you how your hunt went. I noticed that you've got a new trophy on your favorite wall. Do tell of your adventures. _

Ray'jin put both arms on top of the table,_ "Well…" _he thought for a moment,_ "The hunt started out as planned. I encountered oomans just after my drop off point. They were scientists, unworthy, managed to detect my presence with their scanners and ran off, alerting everyone that had weapons. I took many trophies and stalked the remaining oomans invading our hunting grounds. I learned later then that they used our technology against us and knocked out two of our clan mates and were abducting them for experimentation. Code and honor bound, I had to go and rescue them and prevent the oomans from learning our technology. So I went after them, got into their base and after terminating their pathetic excuse for combat robots, I came at a dead end. I regretted going into a room that was open on either end with elevator doors and lights flashing the ooman word 'exit'. My senses warned me about this room but it was the only way to find our clan mates. I walked in and sensed that it was a trap but I was too late to escape because the doors closed around me. Then the ceiling opened revealing a big weapon that started to shoot electric pulses, our technology, I was paralyzed and fading into unconsciousness when the most unpredictable thing happened._

"_What was that?"_ Sarket asked.

"_Do you remember about 20 years ago when the oomans had invaded one of our hunting grounds that was the jungle planet? We were still Young Bloods then when my sire was teaching us about hunting on different worlds and other worthy prey when we found the oomans?"_

"_Yeah…what of it?"_

"_Well…before I went unconscious, I recognized the ooman standing beside me, mocking me…"_

Sarket's brow raised in a manner that said, _"Oh?"_

"_It was the same ooman I shot off the ledge 20 years ago!"_

"_WHAT! That same ooman that got away?" _ Sarket said surprised.

Ray'jin nodded.

"_How the pauk did it survive that fall?" _Sarket said dismayed.

"_I have no idea. Anyways…I blacked out and when I came around for what appeared to be weeks later my mask was missing and so were all my weapons, besides my Ki'cti-pa and I was in a holding pen._

Sarket's eyes widened, _"How DARE they treat you in such a manner! I have a right mind to slay them all."_

"_Sorry Sarket, but I beat you to it."_

Sarket pouted but quickly wiped it off his face as to not look childish.

Ray'jin sighed, _"So…I knew that pauker walked off with my mask. I was so livid and the next thing…I was free. Don't ask me how. I managed to find our clan mates but the pauk-de oomans had killed them both. I retrieved all the weapons and hunted down the ooman that stole my mask. I slayed many Kainde Amedha that got in my way including their queen and all the time, that pauk-de ooman mocked me in my efforts to hunt him down. I never gave up, and when I got him cornered, he cowered in an electronic exoskeleton-type suit to make him stronger. He delivered a good fight and I managed to bring him down!_

"_Then his skull has brought you much honor." _

"_It has."_

oOo

Just to bring out my evil side…I aint gonna tell what 'jungle planet' it is! It'll give hints away MUHAHAHAHA! But I'm sure you can figure it out for yourself!

**I wonder if anyone has figured out what Storm's special gift is besides her psychic abilities…**

**(If you're wondering what I'm on about…check out the dream sequence in 'The nightmare' There's a lovely hint in there!) **


	6. Breakdown

A/N: I'm SOOO sorry for the slight delay. I was kidnapped and had to fight my way to get home so that I could update and it's a nice long chapter too! –Grins- Well…it looks like things are going to get spiced up around here (I'm referring to the amount of action and not other) HA HA so that should be interesting! And it's getting better! So R+R…

**Breakdown.**

In the mess hall of the Verloc…

After a restless night, Storm finally gave up sleeping at intervals and had decided to get up when the 'morning' time read 07:30. She put on her long loose black pants, a black tank top especially designed for her, threw that icky lab coat over her shoulders and made her way to the mess hall. She always had a fetish for black.

oOo

She poked absently at her breakfast tray, staring into oblivion and didn't even notice Tania sit down opposite her a few minutes later.

Tania decided to break the silence, "Storm, you ok?"

The sudden question snapped Storm out of her trance and she answered weakly, "Terrible."

"Bad night?" Tania asked with a hint of worry in her voice.

Storm looked up into Tania's eyes for the first time.

Tania's eyes widened, "God you look like shit!"

Storm managed a feeble smile, listless she whispered, "I think 'shit' is an understatement." She had long since lost her appetite and slowly, letting out a long sigh, pushed her tray away. Tania sat in silence awaiting Storm's response. After a minute had passed, Storm spoke again.

"I was wondering if you managed to find out more about the Xenomorphs?"

Tania shook her head, "No…I still know about as much as you do about the basics. I haven't been able to get close enough to the sector 8 scientists to read their thoughts because they're always hanging around in sector 8 and you know that we can't even get anywhere close with our sector 4 clearances. Even if we're both observers, we still can't get even as close as sector 5 because from then on it's all top secret projects and we'd just get in the way."

"Damn." Storm hissed, "So it's only from the rumors from our luck with sector 5 and 6?"

Tania nodded then asked, "You haven't been able to get close enough either?"

"No."

At that moment, the intercom crackled to life, "Sector 4 personal O.1 and O.2 Please meet in the briefing room for an urgent meeting."

"That's us." Storm said standing up. Tania followed suit and they both caught the strays of muffled whispers coming from a group of scientists from different sectors on the other side of the mess hall. They composed of: "Aren't they those experiments…" and "Shh…they can hear us. Remember…" The muscles on Storm's back tightened and she adjusted the back of her coat to conceal the slight lumps on her back.

Tania grabbed Storm's arm and urged her through the doors but before the doors closed, Storm caught a scientist looking at her with a smirk on his face before turning back to look at the other scientists in his group.

oOo

Later in the briefing room…

They both entered the briefing room to find Mr. Weyland sitting on the other end of the long desk that was the centerpiece of the room. He got up as soon as Storm and Tania entered the room.

"Ah good you're both here." He said relieved.

Storm looked at Tania questionably with a look of concern on her face, then looked back to Mr. Weyland, "What seems to be the problem Mr. Weyland?" Weyland put his hands together, "I'm concerned about everyone on this ship. It seems that people are going missing. I'm relying on each of your abilities. Have you two seen or heard anything?"

"No." Storm and Tania said in unison.

"Storm, Have you sensed anything amiss?" Weyland asked, turning in Storm's direction.

"No, Nothing-" Storm's eyes widened and both Tania and Weyland caught the glimpse of electricity in her eyes.

"What is it?" Weyland asked with a hint of urgency in his voice.

"Something's wrong. It's not safe here." Storm said with a quivering voice.

"What do you mean-" Weyland was cut off when a siren started to blare throughout the ship. His comlink started to beep and he answered it, "Yes. What is it?"

The comlink crackled, "Sir, there's left engine failure!"

Weyland spoke into the comlink with urgency, "Hold on I'm on my way." Weyland cut the connection and turned to face Storm and Tania, "Come with me." he said and opened the door. Storm and Tania nodded and started to follow him to the main control room.

oOo

In the main control room…

"We're steering way off course! What the hell is going on down there?" the co-pilot shouted

"We don't know. There's still no response from the engine room." Weyland yelled over the sound of the alarm.

"Can someone shut that thing off!" Tania and Storm cried out because of their over sensitive hearing.

"Oh sorry." Someone sang and the alarm was overwritten manually.

"Storm, can you sense what's wrong?" The voice was Weyland's.

"I can't think clearly over this infuriating headache." Storm mumbled

And a heavy burden, like a dull head ache press her brain along with the feeling of a heavy cloud surrounding her…

Storm's eyes snapped open from the remembrance from her dream. She hadn't even realized that she had shut her eyes. "Bullshit!" She thought, "…then again…my high intuition hasn't failed me before…" She trailed off and looked across the room and time seemed to pass in slow motion. The co-pilot spoke again, "We're entering the P2 system."

Storm looked to Weyland again and watched him as he looked outside the space porthole, staring at a planet looming in the distance. He spoke to the co-pilot again, "Scan for any habitable planets so we can make repairs.

The co-pilot complied with the order, "Scanning…second planet from the Blue Giant star can support human life but the amount of oxygen is thinner than earth's atmosphere. We may need the atmosphere converters in case the engineers get short of breath.

Weyland nodded and turned to look outside the space porthole again. The planet he was looking at seemed to move out of the ship's way and reveal another planet behind it. His brow furrowed with confusion. The planet seemed so familiar. He kept looking at the planet looming ever closer, basking in the light of the blue giant star until it nearly filled the porthole. His eyes widened in recognition, "It couldn't be Korari…could it?" he thought.

The alarm sprung to life once more snapping Weyland out of his trance.

"We've just lost main thrusters!" the co-pilot screamed!

And all hell broke loose as the Verloc began to shudder and the planet loomed even closer…

oOo

_I'm going to give you guys a nice surprise soon! You'll see and if I don't get access to the Internet…I'll make up for it! Promise!_

_Oh…and Midnite…If you think you're going to stick your uncle Freddy Kruger on me…think again! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA –choke-…-splutter-…-dies by some unknown cause but not by Freddy Kruger-…-pops up again-…-grins and says- Good bye until next time!…Storm signing off… _


	7. Plans

_A/N: Ok…I got a problem at home. My graphics card maxed out and that means I've got no image on the computer screen. So…that means updating is going to be hard for a while so I have to get that sorted. I can update now and I'll be able to give you guys the surprise using my friend's computer but after that…well…-scratches head-_

_My friend only has so much of Prophecy on her computer. The rest is on mine and I can't type for a while. –Curses situation- DAMN!_

_oOo_

**Plans.**

In the engine room of the Verloc…

Darkness…

A red light flows across the walls of the cluttered room and fades, revealing darkness once again.

The light starts again and a loud blaring noise seems to follow the repeating light, fading, as it echoes through the air and vibrates across every surface of the chamber. In its dim haze, shadows move and the slimy resin coating the walls glistens with every sweep of the light. Another sweep, and you can see the bodies strung up, lining the walls. Their chests each gaping a fist-sized hole, the tell tale signature of their demise. Ripped arteries and gore hung off the splintered ribs protruding from each of the corpse's gaping wounds. Blood stained the resinous walls in rivulet trails and pooled on the floor below their torn limbs

All crew members that ended up victim, all because they came to look for a member that didn't return before them.

The first crewmember, that died as a result of the queen chest buster, still lay in the corner, now nothing more but gnarled bones and remnants of decaying flesh.

The heavy smell of death hung thick in the humid air.

The bottle, now broken, lay in shards at a different corner, obviously kicked aside from the excitement of the feast that occurred here. The glass shards were now harmless as they were now covered in resin. The generators were also laced with thick resin and they sat there unmoving, not even a strained hum emanated from them.

Of course…that would explain why the engines failed.

oOo

Alien shrieks started to fill the air as the hive walls started to shudder. Tiny cracks started to form in the resin covering the walls and tiny chips and dust began to rain to the floor.

_**(Calm down my children and come to me) **_a voice sang in a manner that only a loving mother could muster as it echoed across every mind that was present in the chamber.

The commotion ceased besides the mechanical chaos. Black serpents began to converge together and towards the source of the call, creeping stealthily but swiftly over open and closed eggs.

Mucus-like slime trailed from their claws.

The aliens settled around a corner and something stirred in the darkness. Their mother, their Queen, emerged, lifting her large and crested head into the dim red light, hissing softly in pleasure at her children's quick response.

One of the aliens crept forward slightly, still nervous about the chaos that was occurring around them.

/_What's happening mother? Home is crumbling. Afraid. Going to die…/ _The alien spoke, fear lacing across the telepathic link. The other aliens started to chitter nervously in agreement.

_**(Calm down.)**_ The Queen spoke again.

All the aliens fell silent. The leader of the bunch who was still remained in its position closest to the Queen, still looked up questioningly up to its Queen.

_**(We will not die) **_The Queen continued, directing her speech to everyone.**_ (You are all strong and worthy) _**She knelt her head, addressing the leader of the group of aliens. _**(I have a mission for you all.) **_The alien leader stood at attention. The other's chattered with excitement at the opportunity to serve their queen once more but quieted down so their queen could continue with her speech.

_**(You were my first)**_ She said to the leader **_(and you have served me well in capturing hosts for you brethren. I myself had snared the first host that you emerged from…)_** The alien leader was silent, but sent feelings of love and compassion towards it's Queen across the telepathic link. The other aliens did the same as to not feel left out of sending their love. The Queen was pleased with this and sent out her love and compassion to her siblings.

_**(Your mission may be a hard one but I have faith in all of you to succeed…)**_

Silence…

_**(I had a vision when I first came into awareness. What I have seen, I'm sure, can serve us well in assisting in guarding us from our enemies. I know that they are in pursuit. I've sensed them and seen them. They want to destroy us…)**_

/_The humans?_ / The leader asked.

_**(No…something much, much worse than humans. It's time I made you aware of your worst enemy…)**_

The queen sent images of the predators across the telepathic link to her siblings and they all started to send feelings of fear across the link in response.

_**(Do not be afraid for you will emerge victorious if you utilize teamwork. Now…for your mission…)**_

The queen sent the image of the strange and powerful human****across the link. The aliens seemed confused as to why the queen would want a human to help in the hive. It seemed to look different than an ordinary human.

_**(I want you to capture this human and bring her to me. Do your best not to damage her too badly, she can't heal like you can.)**_

/_Mother…what are those things on it's back?_ /

_**(I believe this particular human uses them to fly. Now prepare yourselves for the impact…we're going to crash soon…)**_

oOo

_A/N: Well there you have it! R+R, tell me what you think and I'll update when I can._


	8. The Hunt begins

_SURPRISE!_

_It's the 10th of March and guess what…_

_It's MY BIRTHDAY and I'll do what I want to. DO what I want to. Do what I WANT to. SO…I'LL…UPDATE…JUST…FOR…YOU-HOO_

_DUM DUM DUM DUM…DUM!…MUHAHAHAHAHAHA…HA! _

_Oh I feel so loved today because nature gave me a HAPPY BIRTHDAY STORM for me today! Thank you nature! –kisses-_

Oh…and this chapter is thoroughly dedicated to all my loyal fans who have reviewed thus far!

That is:

Queen of the Red Skittle

Dawley

Basilisk9466

Prairiefire

M1dn1te

Darkpredatorprincess (Pred)

oOo

**The hunt begins.**

In the control room of the predator ship…

Ray'jin and Sarket were the last to burst into the control room after receiving the message to be there from their wrist computers.

Elder Dærensé was the first to look up and incline his head at their arrival. He was tapping his upper right mandible in excitement.

Drekane seemed to be wrestling with the controls and Sarket promptly took over from him. Drekane let out an annoyed hiss.

Ray'jin was scanning the scene trying to decipher what was going on. He eventually turned to the elder, not in the least bit antagonized by the elder's 'personality'.

"_What is going on elder?" _asked Ray'jin.

Elder Dærensé stopped tapping his mandible and started to explain, _"It seems that the Ooman ship is having trouble with their engines. Our sensors indicate major engine failure and by the looks of things, they're about to crash land on one of our hunting grounds."_

Excitement entered Ray'jin's eyes at the prospect of the hunt starting so soon. He walked across the control room to look through the space window and true to the elder's words, there was the Ooman ship beginning to rush through the atmosphere of the planet below them like a comet, but even more interesting, is that they were about to crash land on a very familiar planet. Ray'jin's eyes widened in remembrance, it was the same planet that he aided in against the Ooman invasion, were he shot that one particular Ooman off the ledge so many years ago and is now but the center of attention in his trophy room, the same planet that he mentioned in his conversation about his hunt with Sarket in the kitchen only moments earlier before they both received the message to come to the control room.

It was the Jungle Planet.

He cursed and snickered at the same time: 1. He was cursing because the Oomans never seemed to take the hint and stay off the planet and 2. He was pleased to reinforce that statement. He mused over the thought.

Elder Dærensé spoke again, _" You should all prepare yourselves for the upcoming hunt. I'll take the ship in while you prepare Sarket."_

Sarket nodded, got up and allowed the elder to take the seat. Ray'jin was already making his way to the armory and the others followed suit. As they got to the armory, they each replaced any damaged armor, dull wrist blades that were eaten away by the _Kainde Amedha 's_ corrosive blood on the hunt on LV 1201 and improved the rest of their arsenal.

They returned to the control room dressed to kill and strapped themselves in the seats. Ray'jin and Sarket peered outside the space windows. They had just entered the Thermosphere of the planet and the ship was shaking from the friction on the hull. The clouds cleared and they caught the fiery comet of the Ooman ship making it's way into the mountainous regions of the planet below. They kept up the pursuit, staying far above the ship as it bellowed out smoke in its fiery trail, the ground rushing in a blur below them.

They noticed that the Ooman ship suddenly engaged something which caused metal flaps to raise up which must've been air brakes in their attempt to slow the ship's decent but to no avail. The flaps ripped off the body of the ship like paper and seemed to fly like boomerangs through the air as they were left behind. The Ooman ship sailed over the mountains and started to take a nosedive into a deep and wide canyon.

Both predators stared in wonder and noticed a faint glimmer…like a shimmering bubble consume the Ooman ship as it neared the ground, but the second they noticed it, it was gone as the Ooman ship plowed into the dirt, sending a thick cloud of dust and smoke to erupt into the air.

Elder Dærensé steered the ship past the crash sight and towards the setting sun. He maneuvered the ship over the thick foliage of the jungle beneath them until he found that the trees parted, revealing a clearing.

He brought the ship in to land and the ship touched down with little more than a whisper, the cloak still engaged.

The predators readied themselves. The ramp was lowered and all three descended down the ramp and stared off into the trees.

Ray'jin leaped into one of the skyscraper-like trees in an attempt to get a view over the jungle's canopy. He was successful and he managed to make out the thick smoke trail rising in the air, studied it for a few seconds, then made his way back down again to the rest of his group.

"_How far?"_ Sarket asked as Ray'jin landed before them after jumping from a branch.

"_Approximately 3 to 4 miles in that direction..." _Ray'jin explained, pointing two clawed fingers in the direction of the Ooman ship. _"It shouldn't take us long to get there."_

Sarket and Drekane both nodded their heads in confirmation and all three predators leapt into the trees.

Nightfall was drawing nearer…

oOo

Sorry this chapter is so fast paced…and a bit short –cringes- 

_-Watches everyone gather in front of me with burning torches and pitchforks…-_

_Aww…com'on guys… it's my birthday…throw me a friggin' bone here…_

_-A random predator, which turns out to be Drekane, throws a bone, which hits me on the head- _

_I MEANT FIGURATIVELY…NOT LITERALLY-_

_-Watches crowd take a step closer and notices predators flex their wrist blades-_

…

0o

o0

_EEP!…_


	9. We are not alone

Hey guys so sorry I took ages to update. I only finished typing this up earlier but I had a fun little holiday while doing it! I got some excellent news! Xeno fans will finally get Xenos into the picture and those threatening me for longer chapters…you're looking at this one to be…what?…about 6 ½ pages long! WHOOT! Oh and guess what…I FINALLY GOT AVP ON DVD! –runs around in circles screaming- SKWEEEEEEEE!

Anyhoo enough of that chatter. Go and immerse yourselves in this suspense-filled chapter…

oOo

**We are not alone.**

Later in the crash sight…

Darkness was the only thing that existed right now, draped over everything like a black curtain. Sparks blazed and spitted out of cracks around the control board and the other equipment lining the walls. A separate computer terminal had fallen over in the crash, it's screens smashed to pieces and sparks spat out from the exposed circuitry. The door to the control room was open and beyond it was a red siren light flashing on and off, casting the control room in a temporary red haze and causing shadows cast by the debris littering the floor to snake their way towards the control board, fading in and out with every passing of the light.

Tania was the first to wake up, take in the scene, and was on her feet before the second was even over. The co-pilot and pilot lay unconscious in their seats. Weyland was beginning to stir in a dark corner and Storm was no-where to be seen.

Tania ran to Weyland's aid. She held his arm as he tried to get up.

"Mr. Weyland, are you alright?" Tania spoke urgently with worry lacing her voice.

Weyland coughed as he stood up. "Where's Storm?" He asked after he got his breath back.

"I don't know…" Tania said lifting her head and scanning the room once more. That's when she saw the tangled heap of blue-black feathers and white fabric on the other side of the fallen computer terminal.

"OH MY GOD…STORM!" Tania cried out and was already closing the four-meter gap between herself and the computer terminal in just three leaps. Weyland whipped his head around in Tania's direction and was already running to help in any way he could.

Tania literally leaped over the terminal and crouched besides Storm's crumpled body. Storm was laying in a loose recovery position facing the one side of the terminal. Weyland rounded the terminal and crouched beside Storm immediately. He gasped when he noticed a thin trail of blood was seeping from her nose.

"Can you heal her?" He said looking up to Tania.

"I can heal the wounds…" Tania said moving her hands just over Storm's wings. She was 'feeling' for broken bones but luckily, Storm wasn't graced with the fragile bones of a bird, even thou they were hollow for easier flight, they were still a bitch to break! Tania only found sprained muscles on the wrist part of Storm's right wing. Her hands went hot and she felt the muscles knit together again.

Tania moved her hands over Storm's back and 'felt' deeper into her chest cavity. There were no broken ribs.

Tania carefully rolled Storm onto her back, taking care not to damage her wings and repaired the damaged tissues in Storm's face. The bleeding stopped.

Weyland seemed puzzled for a moment. "Why isn't she waking up?" he said afterwards.

"…I can only heal the wounds…not the mind…" Tania exclaimed in-between gasps of breath, as healing drained energy, "…Storm must do that herself…and decide when she's ready… to wake up."

Weyland sighed in defeat and silently urged Storm to wake up while Tania tore away the lab coat from Storm's body. 'No more secrets', she thought to herself 'It's time the rest of the ship deal with what we are.'

oOo

Tania was the first to hear faint footsteps running towards their direction. She turned to look at Weyland but he didn't seem to notice them yet.

"What?" Weyland said when he noticed Tania looking at him.

"I can hear footsteps…" Tania trailed off and both turned to face the open doorway. Approximately 30 seconds passed and only then did Weyland manage to hear the heavy footfalls getting louder and louder. They both stared at the door expecting a hideous beast to come in and tear them to pieces but quite suddenly, two marines barged in, waving their pulse rifles and shining their shoulder lamps across the room.

Tania shot her hand up to shield her eyes. To think that such a weak light seemed like a halogen lamp in the darkness.

'To hell with these genes,' She thought 'You can't even act 'normal' around here anymore! -'

A groan came from before her and she looked down to see Storm twitch and slowly open her eyes and Tania gasped in realization.

"Did we make it…" was all Storm managed to utter before the two lights beamed directly onto her. She hissed softly, squinting her eyes from the blinding lights and shielded them with her left hand.

"What the hell?" exclaimed one of the marines, raising his pulse rifle.

The marine had the motive and that was all Storm needed to actually sense the probable danger that could be afflicted on her. Instantly her eyes flared like electricity and the air warped in a static blue haze between her and the barrel of the pulse rifle.

"Stand down marine!" Weyland barked, commanding submission by the shear resonance of his voice. The marine didn't hear the order the first time, as he stood there mesmerized and practically dumfounded at the air warping in front of him. Obviously he realized, and remembered, seeing the same thing outside the windows of the ship before it crashed, but he wasn't sure what to make of it.

"I said STAND DOWN MARINE", Weyland repeated. The marine reluctantly lowered the pulse rifle but kept a watchful eye on the winged human. The marine spoke to his other comrade, "See Frosty…I was sure that we were dead and were just wandering spirits walking this ship because now we've just came across an angel."

"No Duke, I'm pretty sure we're _all_ alive. Hell hasn't frozen over yet!" Frosty said, letting his left hand holding the rifle hang at his side. Duke opened his mouth to speak but no words came out as Frosty stepped forward extending his right hand to Weyland. "Good to see you sir." Frosty said.

Weyland took his hand and pulled himself up and Tania helped Storm up as soon as she let the field in front of her fall, but Storm was already on guard when she caught Duke staring at her again.

Weyland spoke next, "Andrew Harrison, if I remember correctly. I'm glad you're here. Andrew nodded and turned his gaze to the two women standing beside Weyland, "They are…?"

Weyland seemed puzzled at the question for he couldn't be sure if Andrew was asking their names or asking _what_ they were. He decided to go for the intro. "This is Tania…" He said, placing a hand on Tania's shoulder, "…and the lady beside her is Storm. They're story is too long to tell at the moment but I can assure you that they are both on our side. They've been with me for almost a year. Tania, Storm…this is Andrew and Duke."

The marines nodded and Andrew's comlink started beeping, _"Blackwell report."_

"All clear. Five survivors. Two down cold, three are ok. Weyland is all right. Control room is secure Major."

"_Nice work marines. Bring the survivors and meet back at the mess hall."_

"Orders received and understood. Harrison out."

Andrew returned the comlink in its rightful place and turned to Duke. Duke nodded in confirmation and both turned to look at the three standing before them.

The two pilots were beginning to rouse from their cold sleep. Andrew spoke next, "We must all make our way to the mess hall."

Tania and Storm nodded and helped the pilots to their feet while the marines checked their ammo supply. When they were all ready to proceed, they made their way out of the control room, Andrew in front, followed by Weyland, the two pilots who didn't quite know what was going on yet, Tania, Storm and Duke taking up the rear. Of course, Duke was always distracted and kept on gawking at the wings somehow attached to Storm's back. This annoyed Storm because she absolutely hated the feeling of being watched with a passion.

Through the maze of corridors they went. The marines seemed ready to blow anything that would probably leap at them every time they rounded a corner.

_Hisss……tap tap tap tap…tap…_

_/Did you hear that Storm/ _Tania asked, opening the link between them

_/Yes…/ _Storm replied back across the link _/ I sense it is danger… /_

_/What kind of danger/ _Tania asked

Realization hit Storm like a ton of bricks, _/…WE'VE GOT TO GET TO THE MESS HALL NOW, THERE'S SOMETHING ON THE SHIP/_

"Perhaps you two should keep up with rest of the group." Duke stated

Weyland turned, "What's going on?" then he noticed Storm's eyes were glowing.

Tania focused her eyeson him, "There's something threatening lurking in the ship Mr. Weyland.

Storm couldn't help gawking at every conceivable corner of the ceiling, the danger seemed to be coming from everywhere behind that metal sheet!

"Storm?" Weyland asked, noticing her edginess.

Storm snapped her sights to the mess hall door at the end of the corridor. The edges of her vision darkened and it seemed that the door was the center of attention of a powerful spotlight. Thou the door was approximately 50 meters away and two more corridors flanked either side of the corridor they were in, it seemed to her that they were all going to be running through no man's land in the middle of World War Three.

The door seemed so far away now with that prospect in mind.

Faint voices started to enter Storm's mind…

_/Get her…get her…get her…/_

Storm looked at Tania, their eyes met, she could hear them too…

_/…get her…get her…GET HER/_

_**BANG!**_

As one, the group spun around to face the other end of the corridor from which they had come. An air vent was buckled and protruding towards the ground. The florescent light between them and the edge of the vent sparked at the hinges touching the vent. The lights dimmed, flickered. The eerie sound of strained metal being torn, creaking all around them even, perhaps, from the floor beneath their feet.

The sparking hinge of the light ahead exploded, the light swung like a broken limb off the ceiling, hanging on by only a few wires, struck the wall, the florescent tubing shattered and the fine glass rained onto the floor. The lights above flickered once, twice…and went out.

The marines fumbled to switch on their shoulder lamps. As they did so, there was another bang and the crash of something big hitting the floor.

Storm watched intensely ahead, because of her good night vision, she could see the dark form slipping silently down from the ceiling onto the floor.

The lamps came on and beamed down the passage…and came to rest on the creature ahead.

It's tail whipped from side to side and it was hissing at them.

oOo

The silver lines that pulsed and rippled along every surface, which was its way of seeing, was crystal clear. It was like gazing into a black and silver 3D image of your surroundings. It could make out every solid surface and see the hosts ahead of it, and of course…its goal.

It looked straight at the creature.

oOo

"Oh my GOD", Storm thought in dread. It was truly something out of a nightmare.

"It can't be", Andrew whispered to himself. Duke was clearly wide-eyed and gaping from disbelief.

It was a Xenomorph

It hissed again and surged forward.

"RUN!" Storm shouted

"OPEN FIRE!" Weyland shouted over Storm's voice.

The marines aimed and opened fire. The Xenomorph was already half way toward them when the hail of bullet's hacked the thing to pieces. It shrieked as its body parts and corrosive blood splashed onto the walls and the floor. A second passed and the rest of the creatures started to pour out of the vent like black oil and started to rush in a wave towards them!

The hail of bullets started again, cutting down more of the creatures, but doing nothing to cut down their numbers fast enough.

"BACK UP. WE'RE RUNNING LOW!" Andrew shouted.

The group ran towards the door and more Xenos were running towards them down the corridors flanking them.

They weren't going to make it. They still needed time to access the door's security system.

About 15 meters from the door, Tania pleaded with Storm, "You've got to do something."

Storm spun around at the 10-meter mark so quickly that it seemed like a black blur, and thrusting her right hand in front of her, she put up the shield before the black tide collided with them.

The shield arced through the air, sealing them in front of the door. The swarm of Xeno's made contact a split second later and bounced off the shield like little bugs bouncing off the windshield of a car. Unfortunately, none went 'splat' as what happens when the car is speeding down a clear highway at 180 kilometers per hour.

The shield held fast and rippled at every hard impact of the Xeno's. They spat, hissed and clawed at the force separating them from the their prey. The black tide tried to get a grip on the shield to climb up on its smooth surface, but it wouldn't permit their claws to puncture it. They would slip and fall onto one another and would seem to get more furious by the second.

Storm looked back to see the rest of the group gawking at what she'd just done. "WELL DON'T JUST STAND THERE. GET THE DOOR OPEN!" she shouted.

"Oh…right…" Weyland said, snapping out of his trance and fumbling to get the card of his jacket pocket. His nerves were shot as he battled to slip the card through the security lock because it was very disconcerting to have ferocious aliens behind your back.

After what seemed like an eternity, the door finally opened to reveal three wide-eyed marines with their pulse rifles, and a smart gun, aimed out the door. Without further hesitation, the group ran into the mess hall to reveal the frightening scene beyond.

All the marines could do was gape.

Storm backtracked slowly to the door. As she had to keep full control of the shield, she needed to keep it at a controllable distance for it to be fully affective, so as she got two meters from the door, every back step she took from then on, the shield would slowly follow her…along with the swarming mass of aliens.

"Just keep that door open a little longer…" storm pleaded.

She stepped inside and Weyland was standing by at the security panel

"Ok. Close it." Storm finally said.

Weyland nodded and swiped the card and by the looks of things, he got his nerve back.

The door began to hiss shut and as it sealed, contact was broken, the shield disintegrated and a hollow _'BOOM' _sounded at the door.

Weyland sighed in relief.

Storm turned to face her audience, eyes still flared.

By the looks on everyone's faces, they had finally managed to piece together what had happened earlier. It was all because of Storm. She was the reason why the ship didn't disintegrate in the crash landing…

"We need to get out of here." Storm said, interrupting their thoughts.

"Why?" asked a nervous bystander.

At that moment, two heavy dents appeared in the reinforced metal door. The air hummed with the thunderous booming of the metal straining under the force of the impacts.

Storm looked at the door, then back at the bystander. "That's why." She said, "The door won't last long."

Everyone got nervous at that revelation. An older man in a green suit spoke next, "But where are we supposed to go?"

Weyland answered for him, "There should be that abandoned station somewhere here Major McCane. It might still be of use. Perhaps we can use the drop ships to get there?" Major McCane glared at him, " Are you insane? We'll be risking our lives to get to the hanger."

Weyland looked at Storm for assistance.

Storm nodded, "We've got no other choice right now." She said, "Take us there."

oOo

Ooooh…wonder what's going to happen next? MUHAHAHAHAHA

Be sure to look out for the next chapter: Unexpected Discovery. In this chapter there's going to be a new twist! Although Prairiefire has figured out my scheme in this story (mainly where I got my idea for Storm) I'm so proud of you! –hugs Prairiefire- nice work! I'm hoping to bring in a very familiar (or unlikable) character/s into this, so hold thumbs!

-Storm


	10. Unexpected Discovery Part 1

Hey guys! Took me forever but I finally got this chapter done! I bet you've been itching to know what happens next. Well I've got good news for you, there's some more action, new twists and turns and…more foes coming your way!

DISCLAIMER, Seeing thou I haven't done this in a while, here goes…

I don't own the Xenomorphs and the Predator trademarks. They belong to someone else known as FOX (ring any bells? Good!) Some ideas are not mine for they belong to James Patterson. I DO however own some of my characters in this story. That is Storm, Tania, Ray'jin, Sarket, Drekane, the Ky'Hads and any other living thing you don't recognize.

Oh…and one more thing before I let you read in peace is concerning the Ky'Hads. It's a predator name I made up to call them so when you say the name Ky'had, make sure that you make that K at the beginning make a distinct click when you say it. Don't worry, it's so easy a toddler could do it! Just say the K sound using the back of your tongue while clicking it at the same time.

oOo

**Unexpected Discovery, part one.**

Edge of canyon, overlooking the crash site…

Ray'jin pushed aside some brush with his right arm and peered over the rocky face of the canyon with his stealth still engaged. There was the ooman ship, clear as day in his thermal vision and it seemed that the oomans hadn't done anything about their predicament. He smiled lightly behind his mask, purring with excitement and turned to face the others. _"Well, we're here. The ships just below."_

The others took a look.

"_Let's get 'em." _ Drekane hissed.

A faint crunch sounded from the darkening trees.

All three Predators spun around towards the sound.

All was silent.

They scanned the trees.

Nothing.

Ray'jin shifted through his visions and spotted a limb behind a tree. He turned to X-ray and spotted the creature and it was not alone.

"_Ky'Hads!" _Ray'jin hissed and whipped out his spear. Sarket let out a low threatening growl and his wrist blades shot out to their full two-foot length. Drekane's soon followed, causing the still air to sing with chilling resonance.

All three predators un-cloaked.

Hyena-like laughter started to reverberate through the surrounding trees. The leader emerged out of the bushes ahead of them, back arched and snarling rabidly. Two more emerged on either side of the leader, then four more, surrounding the Predators completely.

Thou the _Ky'Hads _were brutally and physically inferior to the _Kainde Amedha, _they were still agile, smart and sported very long teeth and four abnormally long, razor sharp talons on each paw. To a human, they would seem crossed between a Hyena and a wolf with something else polluting the gene pool. Their backs were arched like a hyena's and a shaggy mane of black fur ran along the length of their backs. Thick silvery scales would run down either side of their bodies and some of the scales were darker in colour, making distinct stripes. They frothed at the mouths and preferred to hunt in packs.

They knew there was strength in numbers and would give shrieks of laughter when they had potential prey cornered. One would think that they were like demented serial killers that took pleasure in destroying the lives of women and children. It was virtually impossible to fight a pack of _Ky'Hads_ and emerge out of it without at least one set of claw marks. Just like hyenas, they were opportunistic little shits! and there attributes made them worthy of a good warm up during a hunt on this Jungle Planet if you ever ran into them or vise versa.

The leader leaped, brandishing his claws, maw gaping and eyes flaring. Ray'jin sidestepped the sudden attack and the rest of the _Ky'Hads_ leaped in at once. Sarket and Drekane moved to open the gaps between them so they wouldn't collide with each other when fighting. Two directed themselves at Sarket while three went for Drekane, the other decided to aid his leader with the attack on Ray'jin. Ray'jin threw his spear forward. The leader dodged out of the spear's path but his assistant wasn't quick enough to react when he realized why his leader dodged, revealing the deadly shaft. The spear struck flesh as it impaled the _Ky'Had_ in the chest and burst out the thing's back. The force of the throw sent it flying back wards and tumbling along the jungle floor. It convulsed in death's grip before going still. The leader didn't stop charging. He ran to the side to catch Ray'jin off side but Ray'jin extended his own wrist blades and did a back limbo. The leader of the pack sailed over him and he felt fire burn at his side as its claws found flesh. He brought his right arm around in a wide ark. The tip of one of the blades caught the thing's head and it yelped in pain but did not let it disorientate it's decent. Amazingly, it landed on all four paws and spun around to face the Predator. Ray'jin noticed that he didn't do that much damage. There was a clean cut across the leader's right eye and purplish blood was oozing from the wound, not to mention that it looked pissed off

Ray'jin leaped up into a tree and the leader went after him, tearing up the tree and ripping out chunks out of the bark in a revengeful rage. Ray'jin swung around and kicked the _Ky'Had_ in the side. It fell to the jungle floor with a loud thud. Ray'jin jumped to the ground himself to finish off the leader. As he approached he noticed that the others of his hunting party had finished off four of the beasts and three still remained. The leader got up shakily and gave a short bark, commanding a retreat. They bounded off into the jungle yipping and laughing in their usual way…

oOo

5 minutes earlier in the Verloc…

"Hurry…we don't have much time!" Storm shouted to the rest of the group that was lagging behind her. Tania had no problem keeping up with her. 36 survivors, including Tania and Storm, were accounted for but the rest were missing. They made it to the internal hanger bay doors and both Tania and Storm heard a crash behind them. They turned to see a black swarm of Xenomorphs surging around a corner at the far end of the corridor. More were coming down the corridor flanking them.

Major McCane accessed the security locks on the door. The codes were accepted and the double doors hissed apart. The group rushed into the hanger, and Storm, assessing the situation quickly and considering what they had. Then the doors hissed shut and commanding her awesome power, took control of one of the five available drop ships and moved it across the hanger and blocked the interior door.

Major McCane looked as if he'd seen a ghost when he witnessed that stunt.

"MOVE!" Storm shouted, "GET INTO THE DROP SHIPS."

Everyone knew the plan already, as there were only three pilots: Johnson and the pilot and co-pilot of the Verloc, so only three drop ships could really be used and they now had four ships to choose from. The two Verloc pilots and eighteen survivors, including four of the marines, divided themselves between two drop ships. Johnson took Tania, Weyland, Andrew and the rest with them in the other drop ship.

Storm contacted Tania… /_They've got to get the bay doors open. Blast them if they have to/_

Storm felt a mental nod and a revelation yanked her back to reality like a bungee cord. She looked at the blocked door to see it dissolving in places and her eyes went wide.

/_Hurry…they're sacrificing themselves to dissolve the door/_

The drop ships hummed to life and directed themselves at the bay doors. There was the clank of metal as missiles where set ready. They aimed and fired…

oOo

Back to the edge of the canyon overlooking the crash site…

**BOOM!**

Winged creatures of all sorts screeched in fury from being disturbed and took off into the space over the canyon, the echo's of the explosion reverberating off the canyon walls.

"_What the pauk?" _ Ray'jin hissed as he spun around putting his cloak back on to look at the Ooman ship. They peered over the edge to see three Ooman craft flying out and away from the crashed ship and through the canyon. "_What the pauk?" _He found himself asking again. Something else shot out of the gaping hole on the side of the ship and was behind the Ooman craft and it was…_flying?_

He zoomed in on it and found himself too lost for words. It was an ooman of all creatures…WITH WINGS!

It was true all right. In the dimming light of the blue giant sun, the 'Ooman's' muscles burned bright in the wings, according to his thermal vision. He switched to a very special vision mode that allowed him to see colour as some races could. His race's technology had also upgraded over the past 100 years and this vision wasn't particularly used for hunting purposes but to learn everything about the environment and their prey.

He looked at the flying ooman. Its' skin was a pale tan, its' hair was blue-black and its' wings were the same colour as its' hair. The last rays of the blue sun streaming into the canyon shimmered across those dark wings in blue waves.

"_What is that?" _the others asked.

"_I don't know."_ Ray'jin rattled as he peered closer while getting excited at this new find. The desire of a worthy kill was running through his veins…

Then it happened.

The ooman's eyes darted in his direction.

His heart nearly skipped the third of its tripartite beat, as he stood stock-still. Luckily, he and the others had put their cloaks on as well, but questions swam through his mind; _"Did it see us? Why did it look straight at me? How…?"_

Ray'jin was lost in his own thoughts and shook his head to clear them. He didn't need distractions.

"_There is Kainde Amedha as well!" Sarket hissed_

"_WHAT!" Ray'jin clicked, "That tears it! Let's get in there and end these experiments."_ He got up to retrieve his spear. He bent down over the impaled _Ky'Had_, took hold of the shaft and pressed the button on the handle to make it go into its' compact form. He returned to the others and assessed the situation. He turned his head to his right, following the direction of the ships, _"By the looks of things, the oomans are going to their abandoned base up north." _He barked, thinking aloud.

The predators rattled in conformation and leaped over the edge of the canyon wall, jumping rock after rock, down towards their prey.

oOo

Dum dum dum dun…

Did I mention that this was a part one and that there was a part two? Well… to put my evilness into action, I ain't gonna submit the next chapter until I see at LEAST eight reviews!

MUHAHAHAHAHAH!

So what are you waiting for? REVIEW REVIEW!

But I'll be nice and inform you that I've done a rough map lay out of the scene. If you request it, I can email it to you so that you can have a fair idea of the scene as it is!

-Storm

(-SR3.3.3.-)

"I'm half way to hell."


	11. Unexpected Discovery Part 2

A/N. OMG!…9 reviews! Whoa Ok…fine…I finally relent to your persistent requests and give you part two of this chapter.

Whitecoat: nickname for scientist.

Disclaimer. I don't own the "familiar (or unlikable) character/s" to come. (Those who have read those particular books by James Patterson will know whom I am referring to when they read this.)

oOo

**Unexpected Discovery, part two.**

In the heart of the canyon…

The air itself was still, quiet and warm. There was the distant hum of the drop ships ahead and their shapes stood out against the darkening turquoise and lavender washed sky. The ships turned left around a corner, leaving Storm alone in open air. She beat her wings down hard in an effort to keep up. The tips of her feathers vibrated in the rising updrafts.

Time seemed to stand still for the moment in this tranquil and unreal scene, but behind it ran dangers far out of control, dangers that could only have been spawned out of nightmares inspired by the demons of hell. They ran in rivulet trails along the canyon floor like the icy tentacles of a much darker force reaching out towards its prey.

Storm.

But then that image shattered when the sounds of whips cracking in the air echoed through the canyon.

The afflicting danger was too much for Storm to bare and her curiosity prompted her to look behind her just in time to see several bolts each explode in a ball of blue flame at different points of the black mass of aliens trailing after her. However, that second that she took to puzzle over what had just happened, she couldn't see where they came from, but hovering in the air gave a warrior class drone, better known as a praetorian, to take the opportunity to pounce through the air like a black dart. The action was too quick for Storm to get out of its collision course and it barreled into her in mid air and they both plummeted to the rocky floor.

In that brief moment of falling and hearing the wind rushing past their ears, Storm and the offending creature were locked in an air borne struggle to keep the other underneath them while a battle raged on below.

It hissed and clawed at Storm to regain a hold on her before they crash-landed and she got away. This puzzled Storm because she couldn't sense that the creature wanted to kill her, but she still fought to keep in control.

The ground rushed towards them in a shadowy blur and the alien fought under the restraints of Storm's mind. She sensed that she was being watched, but she focused on destroying her enemy. Storm tucked in her wings to free fall like a falcon at high speed towards the ground and just before the impact, Storm reared up in an arc towards the sky and the alien met the parched ground with a loud sickening crunch.

oOo

"Did you see that!" Sarket rattled as he cast a beheaded body of a Kainde Amedha aside after witnessing what the winged ooman did to the warrior drone. Ray'jin didn't hear him as he continued to blast his way through the ranks of Kainde Amedha to get a better look at the spectacle in the sky. Drekane was too immersed in gaining as many kills as he could, most likely, to impress the females back home.

Ray'jin leaped out of the battle scene and onto the rocky wall of the canyon for he wanted to go for much bigger game.

oOo

Storm dipped her right wing and banked sharply around to dish out more to the creature that she delivered to earth. Surprisingly, it was still alive but badly injured. It got up shakily and strained to stand up. Its tail was broken in two places and it dragged on the ground at unnatural angles. A left ankle was snapped along with a right arm broken at the shoulder. One of the right shoulder spikes was broken in half and its jaw dangled sickly off one side, hanging on by only a few ligaments. Its obsidian head was cracked in places and the celtic crest was shattered on one side.

Storm landed before the xenomorph and purposefully strode up to it, daring it to strike back. The xenomorph struggled in death's grip for a moment while staring at her. Then it finally let out a strained hiss of pain before collapsing into a crumpled heap of its own dark flesh and bubbling blood.

Storm smirked. "Whoever said 'Death comes on swift wings' sure wasn't kidding." She thought to herself. It was amazing how ironic it was that it fitted the scene so well in more ways than one.

The battle was won, yes, but the war wasn't over. More were coming for her.

She looked to see a normal class drone rushing up to her on both sides. Dodging out of their way wasn't a good idea, so the best option…was up.

Storm launched off the ground. The drones anticipated this and leaped onto the air. Storm countered and back flipped in mid-air. The drone's skulls collided like mountain goats fighting over territory. They bounced off each other shrieking and as Storm righted herself, she was sure that she saw fine hairline cracks in their black skulls.

Storm beat her wings down hard and glided north towards a high bed of rock that stood out like a mesa in the middle of the canyon. She landed and spun around to peer at the battle scene below. It was utter chaos with xenomorphs everywhere and one by one they were being cut down by some invisible force!

The feeling of being watched came from the rocks down below. Storm looked down to see a shift in the air, like a heat shimmer, making its way towards her. She didn't have time to ponder about it because the feeling of eyes at her back and the sound of feet being silently placed on the rock behind her distracted her thoughts.

"We never could sneak up on you." an angelic voice stated.

"That voice…" Storm thought to herself and the tiny feathers on the back of her neck stood on end.

She slowly turned around to see eight model looking Whitecoats grinning at her.

This was bad news. They looked too perfect.

Storm unfurled her wings slightly when the Whitecoat in front of her waved a finger.

Everything turned into a living nightmare then. Fabric tore over bulging muscles. Dark fur grew over skin. Muzzles grew forward while teeth and claws lengthened.

Storm's eyes widened in fear and realization…

"Erasers." she whispered.

oOo

_Oops…ehehe… cliffhanger! –Enjoys watching Prairiefire and Midnite squirm-_

_-Chuckles evilly-_

_But hey, Prairiefire…Do you think that they will make the movie for Maximum Ride? If they do then I can hardly wait to see it. I've heard talk about it on the Maximum Ride forum but I haven't heard any news about it set in stone._

Oh…and before I forget… -takes off before the angry mob can react and gives the crowd a strawberry- 

_-Storm_

_(SR3.3.3)_


	12. Blast from the past

A/N Well here's the next chapter finally done!

Disclaimer: I do not lay claim to the Erasers, Aliens or Predators, however any characters you've never heard of in your lives…are mine!

News flash! Some of you will know that there is a war of cliffies between Zillah 91 and myself. For those that didn't know, well now you know. –Watches as another chapter from Child of the hunt sail over my head- Oh come now. Just because your laying off the cliffies for now doesn't mean I'm going to take it easy on you. Just give me sec guys…

-Loads this chapter into the barrel of the Redeemer (weapon reference from Unreal Tournament 2003) and lets it fly…-

oOo

**Blast from the past.**

On the rock mesa in the canyon…

Erasers, the most feared and hated guards in The School. They were the second experiment after the winged ones were born in Colorado. They started out as normal humans until The School crossed them with the DNA of canines. The result, model material that can transform into wolfish bloodthirsty killing machines at will and took pleasure in ripping up the winged experiments limb from limb.

But there was a problem…These Erasers were new-and-improved. Far worse than the first Erasers ever created, in fact, those Erasers then, are nothing compared to the Erasers now standing before me.

oOo

"Well…if it isn't the 'almighty' Rafe." Storm said with a hint of venom. But the truth was is that she was nervous underneath that visage of confidence. She had the strength to match that of one Eraser in a wrestling match…but _eight!_ She could already feel the cold sweat forming on the back of her neck. It would be like running through a snake pit without getting bitten. At least she had the advantage of open air in this round, not to mention that her power had grown over the years of captivity, but she forced herself to keep the brunt of it secret, much like an iceberg only shows the tip, you would never know how much loomed beneath the surface. She kept her growing power secret in fear of being terminated before she was strong enough to break free.

Rafe smirked, "Do I smell the stench of _fear_ from you Storm? Finally met your match?" Rafe started to advance.

Storm straightened and every dark cloud of doubt evaporated into thin air. "No actually, I find it rather amusing that you need the rest of your party to take me down. It just proves how pathetically _weak _you are alone!" she said smiling.

Rafe's eyes burned with anger, he didn't take remarks like that too lightly and he struggled to keep his temper from erupting. He drew in a hiss of breath, "Shall we play a game then. My favorite?" The heavy smell of dog breath hung thick in the air.

Storm's eyes widened slightly with remembrance: Cat And Mouse.

"Now, now, Rafe, behave yourself." said a deep resonating voice.

Storm hoped she'd never have to hear that voice again. The voice coursed and writhed through her veins like thousands of tiny cold snakes. Rafe saw Storm's face morph into fear again and he smirked. "Oh…did I mention that father was here…" and he turned aside to reveal the old man behind him. Rafe referred to him as father, namely because he was the one that created all of us. He claimed that there is no biological relation whatsoever.

His features looked different, probably from altering surgery, but the voice was unmistakable.

"Dr. Philips." Storm hissed with pure poison.

"Now is that any way to welcome your father? You still have a lot to learn about manners." He said coolly.

"After what you freaks did to Tania and me back in the lab, you can all burn in hell!" Storm spat. Then her expression changed when she realized that she had mentioned Tania's name. She had completely forgotten about her, and what of Mr. Weyland…

"Ah yes, Tania. She will also make a fine addition for my new project…" Dr. Philips trailed off.

Storm's ears pricked with curiosity. What was he up to now?

"What project?" she said shakily. Truth was she really didn't want to find out.

Rafe started to chuckle, "You have no idea how much trouble you're in now. Why, if only you knew how much fun I've had over the past year when you thought I was dead. Every day I had the pleasure of destroying you, tearing you apart, reveled in your cries of pain as I crushed your bones and had the taste of your blood on my lips over and over again… It's amazing how productive cloning can be!"

Storm's eyes were wide with morbid horror, "You sick bastard."

Rafe's lips parted in a big toothy grin. He opened his mouth to speak again but Dr. Philips cut him off, "The only problem with copies is that they are never the same as the original. They were nothing compared to you. You're a prodigy Storm. Something Earth has never seen. I'd say that you even out class Maximum herself, the first experiment of many before I created you and now…I finally have you."

"Don't flatter yourself." Storm interjected.

"Rafe…" Dr. Philips directed. That was Rafe's queue to attack and he lunged at Storm.

oOo

2 minutes prior…

Ray'jin reached the top of the rock that the winged ooman had landed on and peeked through some spires of rock on the edge. He could see the winged ooman with some other oomans surrounding it. Only then did he realize that this ooman's figure told him different now that she was close up.

"_C'jit…and it had to be female." _Ray'jin cursed for the honour code dictated that the female of the species remain untouched. Something was wrong though. Bad vibes were in the air and the female was poised, ready to attack. Then the oomans in front of her transformed into different creatures altogether and the one closest to them started to bear down on the female.

Ray'jin was stunned, _"What? Did the_ _Ky'had leader bring back some interesting back up or what?" _he consoled with himself. They were talking now and the female was throwing threats at them, she was afraid, she wasn't like that when she was fighting the _Kainde Amedha, _perhaps she had good reason to fear these 'oomans'.

Sarket and Drekane came up beside him. _"The Kainde Amedha retreated back to the ooman ship. I think it was the Kainde Amedha Queen's doing." _Drekane reported silently. Ray'jin nodded and turned to Sarket, _"You're injured." _ he rattled, noticing the stab wound in Sarket's right thigh. _"Just a scratch." _ Sarket added, _"Not too serious." _

"_It still needs medical attention." _Ray'jin informed.

Laughter from above caused them to peek between the rocks again and witness the scene. Sarket's eyes widened when he saw the hairy creatures around the winged ooman. He looked at Ray'jin for some sort of explanation. Ray'jin looked at Sarket, _"I'm still trying to figure it out." _he hissed. Sarket was surprised, _"I thought your sire taught you their language." _he objected. _"He did." _Ray'jin corrected. They both looked at Drekane who seemed to be silently hissing in challenge at this new prey, he probably understood what was being said via his translator. _"Perhaps you should put your translator on too." _Ray'jin added.

Then the ooman that appeared to be leading the hairy ones ordered the one closest to the winged female to attack her. The Predators watched as the creature leaped at the winged female.

oOo

In the hive (Verloc engine core) …

The queen sensed her youngling's minds were dropping off one by one and she called to them to retreat and come back to her.

The ringleader scampered around a corner and what was left of the wounded and tired ones followed. They all settled around their queen, too exhausted to create a mind-heard uproar of their failure to catch what the queen wanted. The queen hissed and the leader stealthily approached the queen.

_**(Where's the guard that aided you?) **_The queen asked

_/He died. The one you wanted was responsible for his death / _The leader informed.

_**(Show me.) **_The queen said. This meant that the occurrence of the preatorian's death was somehow blocked by the winged one's mind powers before it died. The leader submitted and replayed the memory across the link. The queen felt the pain of loss but refused to direct hate and anger towards the winged one. It clearly was afraid because it didn't understand. She would follow through with her plans.****

/_ Mother…what are we to do now/ _ The leader asked.

_**(Rest for now and get your strength back. When you are healed, aid the younglings in the birthing chamber. The guards have been successful in catching a new host. The new guard to come will be strong enough to aid us in this battle.)**_

The aliens bowed their heads and slinked off into the darkness. A few of the less injured ones made their way into the birthing chamber to keep watch as they recovered their strength.

oOo

In a dark, slime gunked corner a frail figure howled. His body shifted once again. His face dripped with sweat as the bones under his flesh reconfigured themselves to undergo the transformation written in his genes. His muscles bulged. He tore at the thick goop restraining him. He howled again and eventually tore free of the bonds and fell to the floor. The dark serpents lurking in the shadows merely watched as he convulsed with pain. Teeth flashed as he howled in pain again and the transformation completed. Then with a final roar of defiance, his furry, barreled chest exploded to reveal the hissing worm twisting in the threads of gore between the splintered ribs of the now, dead Eraser…

(Meanwhile…)

Her wings spread and Storm jumped into the air to leap over the Eraser's head but Rafe shot a hairy arm up and grabbed her left foot. Storm beat her wings down hard, his flexed arm stretched out a bit but her strength wasn't enough to carry his up as well as her own. Everything seemed to go in slow motion. She twisted her body around to face him and Rafe grinned again, "I wouldn't try it if I were you." he growled. Storm wouldn't have it. "Get your paws off me!" she hissed and in a flurry of wings her eyes flared. If she didn't have the strength to tear out of his iron grip…then she'll give him a piece of her mind!

Her right arm came up to cross her chest, but before she could exercise the telepathic punch, pain cracked through her skull like a small bullet ricocheting in the cavity of her skull, turning her brain to mush! All thought and motor brain wave were relinquished as she stiffened, curled up and hit the floor screaming in pain. Then it stopped altogether! Storm managed to get her thoughts in order and set her sights on Rafe who was looming over her, enjoying her torment. She made a move to attack him only to have the pain return to tear at her mind. In the midst of her thrashing, Storm managed to gain enough control to turn her head to the right were Dr. Philips was standing, but the pain prevented her from focusing anything. In her blurring vision, she could make out Dr. Philips through the feathers of her stiffened and shaking wings, a side effect of your body trying to fight the pain. He was standing there with a smile on his face and something was in his hand…like some kind of remote or control thing and his thumb was pressing down on the button.

The warmth of the smooth rock against her back was the last thing she felt before everything went black…

oOo

A/N Do I dare say it…a double cliffy!

-Listens to the scream of the warhead cliffy entering Zillah's territory-

… BOOM

Oooh…that HAD to hurt!

-Does victory dance-

Storm

(SR3.3.3)

…bad to the bone…


	13. New Plans

A/N –pulls hand up and grips the edge of the cliff then pulls the other hand holding a sheet of paper that is the next chapter up and climbs up onto stable ground.-

…

I DID IT!…I DID IT! -Gasps- …Jeez…That was hectic…-gasp-… I swear…that Writers Block ditch I just pulled myself out of…-gasp- …was the size of the friggin meteor crater in Arizona! …-gasp-…-dies to be revived later and leaves it to the wind to deliver this chapter to the awaiting crowd-

…

oOo

**New Plans.**

On the mesa…

Ray'jin was mad…no, _pissed_! He growled deep in his throat, _"How dare that ooman hurt a female with a long range weapon! He has no honour. These bad bloods should die for this!" _Ray'jin looked about ready to take on a whole _Kainde Amedha _hive and it's queen with it. He made a move to leap over the edge and deal out some damage to all these bad blood prey, but Sarket had to grab his arm and haul him down again. _"Have you lost your mind?" _Sarket hissed, _"We know nothing about this new prey. Remember what your sire always told us, '_ _learn to observe your prospective targets before you strike_.' _You must be zazin Ray'jin and thin-de le'hasuan 'aloun'myin-del bpi-de gka-de hasou-de paya." _Sarket added in his attempt to talk some sense into Ray'jin's head. Ray'jin calmed down because he knew that Sarket was right. _"What do you suggest we do then?_ Ray'jin asked, _ "We can't just let this go unseen." _

"_I know Ray'jin." _Sarket defended, _" I think we should come up with a different strategy to deal with this properly. We can always consult our wrist computers to refresh our ui'stbi of this place or send a transmission to Elder_ _Dærensé."_

Ray'jin nodded in understanding and they all peeked over the edge to find everyone gone.

"_Cj'it!" _Ray'jin cursed again and he climbed up and over the edge to stand where the confrontation took place. Sarket and Drekane followed to stand beside him. There was no trace of them leaving here with the winged ooman. They must've left in a ship.

Something dark caught Ray'jin's eye. He forgot that he still had the colour vision mode on. He looked down to see the object twirling by his feet and he bent down to pick it up to have a closer look. As he brought it to his face, he realized it was a feather belonging to the winged ooman.

"_I think we should contact Elder Dærensé now." _ Ray'jin clicked.

"_Perhaps you're right." _Sarket agreed and brought his left arm up to access his wrist computer. He typed in the code to open a transmission to the ship. The line was opened immediately and a holographic image of the Elder appeared, _"Progress report?" _he asked.

Sarket looked at Ray'jin before answering, _"We're on the trail and the oomans have moved North along the canyon. We suspect they are heading towards their abandoned station up there. We report Kainde Amedha and ooman experiments on the planet-"_

Sarket was abruptly cut off when the elder roared. His arm shot out towards them but the image went fuzzy and jumped. Obviously the elder threw a tantrum on the console and gave it an almighty punch. The image came back revealing a fuming elder but he collected himself after noticing the worried looks on the others faces. _"Forgive my outburst." _The elder said, _"It's the experimentation. It has gone on for long enough._ He looked over the three warriors and spotted Ray'jin and the object he was holding. _"What do you have there Ray'jin?"_

Ray'jin looked down at the feather then back to the elder, _"It's something from one of the ooman experiments. Perhaps we can send the data to you to interpret so that you can see what we're up against?"_

"_Very well." _The elder said.

Sarket took the feather from between Ray'jin's clawed fingers, then activated another program on his wrist computer and inserted the feather in a slot just below the computer face. The computer chirruped while scanning the organic material and sent the DNA data to the ship.

The elder spoke next, _" Data received successfully. I'll have the results later and I'll inform you." _

Sarket nodded, "_Yes elder." _and he closed the transmission then turned to the others, _"Perhaps we should rest for the night. Get our strength back." _Sarket suggested, _"Twilight is upon us."_

Ray'jin looked eastward, sure enough, the blue giant star had rested below the eastern horizon and the backwash of protons was casting the darkening sky in the west in an eerie, smoky blue light and the brightest stars were shining brilliantly enough to pierce that dark blue haze separating them from the void beyond.

oOo

In the Station…

Tania was frantic. Her shoulder length snow-white hair whipped through the air as she aimlessly wandered the corridors searching for Storm. A minute later, she rounded a corner and non-too gently, walked into Andrew. He recoiled from the impact but managed to regain his composure, a bit surprised that a young woman could have the strength of a bull trying its hardest to be gentle.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed, "What's with you?"

Tania looked up and immediately apologized, "Sorry about that. I'm just…" She noticed Mr. Weyland walk up behind him. She immediately ran up to him. "I can't find Storm anywhere." She cried as her voice cracked with emotion for her only friend's well being.

Weyland looked at Andrew then back at Tania who was clutching at the fabric of his jacket. "She's not here?" he said alarmed, "Didn't she say she was going to cover us while we got here? he said now concerned.

Tania looked up at him. For the first time since she and Storm were rescued from the lab that created them, he saw fear in her red eyes. The same fear that he saw when he first met them. His mind flashed to the past as if it only happened yesterday…

_FLASHBACK…_

His mind raced through the steel corridors. He could hear the clear sound of screaming and sirens wailing. He looked to either side of him to see his armed men backing him up, walking with determination and a purpose to fulfill, a hard look sculptured on their faces.

They searched every room, busting the doors open and doing a full sweep. Bottles crashed to the floor. Different coloured fluids spilled and did marbled effects on the white tiled floor. His vision roved the shelves lining the walls holding thousands of bottles. He remembered grimacing in disgust as he realized that the bottles contained foetus's of human and animal alike.

His mind fast-forwarded again. He was in another room feeling appalled at the sight before him. Cages stacked on top of one another containing human-like creatures…all dead. Blood was sprayed across the walls and was pooled beneath the cages and glass littered the floor.

An explosion, more screaming, no…more like shrieks of fury followed by roaring and the heavy crash of concrete crumbling. He found himself racing out of the room. He could smell smoke and when he looked down the hallways, he saw fire and thick smoke churning in the air. There was more screaming. He looked back at his men and started to run towards the sound of the fearful voice. He rounded the corner to see two lonely and scared looking children, no older than twelve or fourteen, clutching to each other fearfully. As he realized what situation these two were in, the younger one snapped her sights from a caved in wall on them and her face twisted into a threatening snarl. "Get back!" he heard her voice hiss through the charred air. He was taken aback at the pure hatred radiating from her. He couldn't tear away from the dark blue eyes boring into him. Her blackish hair bellowed slightly from the warm air currents and the orange flickers of the flames around them made her eyes burn and sear his soul. He took a step forward and she darted in front of the other girl in a defensive position. "I said GET BACK!" she yelled and he saw her eyes grow brighter, as cold as icy shards radiating from the pupils, more like electricity arcing against a night sky and for a moment, he thought he saw the air warp in front of him, but he blamed it on the heat shimmers cast by the fires around the hallways, he thought the heat was starting to take it's toll and making him hallucinate. He never left her gaze however and noticed that she wasn't staring at him but at the armed men behind him. He turned to them and commanded they lower their weapons. They complied.

"We're not here to hurt you. We want to help you." He heard himself say with a pleading tone. Her eyes looked at him again. He only noticed then that they were dark again. Maybe he was hallucinating, but froze when he saw the tinge of an eerie blue haze dance across her eyes. His mind felt slightly heavy but it lifted a second later and he noticed the defender relax slightly. His eyes fell to the other girl's blood red eyes and he felt is own widen in surprise. They looked so inhuman and human at the same time he couldn't describe it. He was lost. He would never have guessed that he would be the one to fight the law for four years afterwards to get custody over them.

"Please help us." A different voice rang like the wind in his ears. He returned to that sea of red and he felt as if he was floating towards them and everything faded into darkness…

_END FLASHBACK…_

"Mr. Weyland…I have to find her…" a familiar voice sang in his thoughts, snapping Weyland back to reality. He looked into Tania's tear stained face and gasped when she pulled herself away from him. Tania started to run down the hallway towards an exit fire escape door. Weyland held his arm out towards her and yelled, "Tania…Wait…You can't do this alone…"

Tania pulled open the doors and slipped outside while tugging the coat off her shoulders.

"Tania…please…" Weyland yelled.

"I have to do this." Tania shouted in defiance. She took hold of the coat and threw it to the side and started to run. Weyland and Andrew made it to the door in their attempt to stop Tania. Andrew gasped when he saw white wings unfurl on Tania's back and stared in aw as she took off into the night sky.

"TANIA." Weyland shouted at the top of his lungs but his plea went on deaf ears.

oOo

The hive…

_**(Come forth my young one. Come forth so I may see you) **_The queen mentally sang to the new mind hiding in the shadows.

After an unsure moment, the young warrior ambled out of the shadows and cautiously approached the queen to bask in her presence. The queen looked down, as did the warrior look up.

_**(My…you've grown a lot since you came into existence. You've grown stronger than any of my other warriors here. Perhaps you're host was responsible in some way I'm sure.)**_

The new warrior behaved somewhat humble as the queen praised his impressive development. The warrior possessed longer teeth and claws with the bladed tail. His muzzle was slightly longer than normal and his crest fanned out in an impressive deadly like manner.

…A true dark demon.

Suddenly the warrior sprang up onto all fours, bared his long fangs and hissed, his tail lashing from side to side.

The queen bowed her head, **_(Eager are we? Well, time is everything in this matter. Aid the others to capture the being I want. They will link their memories with you and tell you everything you need to know. Go now and make me proud.) _**she hissed.

The warrior showed off his teeth in a best attempt of a grin before loping off into the depths of the hive to carry out his orders.

oOo

Somewhere in the depths of the jungle…

'_Ugh…where am I? How- Oh shit…' _ Storm thought to herself in dread as she realized what had happened and who was carrying her. The dog smell and hard fur scratching her cheek told her so.

'_Rafe, you asshole, when I get my hands on you I'll…wait bad idea. Just stay relaxed so that you don't alert him. You're in no position to get out of this mess … yet.' _Storm thought to herself with a slight smirk but it faded instantly when she felt a large hand on her bottom. Her blood instantly began to boil, How _dare_ he.

Then Rafe started muttering to himself in frustration.

"I can't believe that I have to carry _you _all the way back to Dr. Philips on foot. He could've saved me the effort by dragging your _worthless flesh_ back on the ship…"

Storm frowned…THAT most certainly did NOT go unheard.

"… but nooo, he didn't want to arouse suspicion back at the abandoned station, all because he wants to get a new breed of Xenomorph from you."

Storm's eyes snapped open, _'WHAT! Oh there is no way I'm going through with this laying down and having that…thing…burst out of my chest. FORGET IT!'_

"…with the hope of that acid resistant control chip in your chest cavity, he is sure that the embryo will incorporate it in its mind. He believes that it will be the best way to control them. The perfect biological warfare weapon. One that will finally listen and not go rebellious like you did. If you could hear me Storm, wouldn't you agree?"

'_Oh god…not the 'taking-control-of –the-Xenomorphs' thing AGAIN! That's really starting to get old. That tears it. I'd rather be anywhere else than in your filthy clutches…' _

"…The perfect plan of revenge for all the shit Weyland Yutani put him through and the chance to see you die a painful death!" Rafe said with an evil chuckle.

'_I have to get out of here. But how…?' _ Storm looked around her surroundings carefully until her eyes came to rest on a large rotting tree trunk. She grinned evilly, _'That'll work. Besides…the smell coming from his hide is starting to make me feel sick. Now I just need to get hold of it…' _Storm tapped into her power and focused on the log. It levitated silently up into the air and started to hover closer to her. _'Now to stay focused and take action…'_

Storm growled, "You need a shower BIG time!" and she brought her knee up.

Before Rafe could even blink, he felt the wind drive out of his lungs and the loud beat of wings followed by the weight suddenly lift off his right shoulder.

Storm launched and suddenly flicked the log towards Rafe. He barely turned around to snarl when the log caught him upwards under the jaw, he yelped and sailed backwards through the air to land with a heavy thud ahead. He got up snarling and Storm took the opportunity to high-tale-it out of there and she disappeared in the canopy of trees above and into the night beyond.

oOo

…

Mental A/N. I think that the only way to revive me is to REVIEW!

…

…at least it's not a cliffy…right?…M1dn1te?…-whimpers-…

But hey guess what guys. You won't believe this, but after my last post once apon a time ago. I was surfing the net for pics and (I don't know how fate did this) but I stumbled on this pic and my first reaction…( -eyes go WIDE- )… It's a picture of Storm and Tania look-alikes when they were younger! If you want it, say so in your review and I'll be more than happy to email it to you!

Chow.

-Storm

(SR3.3.3)

"Peaceful weather…or the eye?"


	14. Urban Legend

I LIIIIVVVEEEEEEE. Here's another awesome chapter for you guys AND it's officially the longest chapter I've written –that's why it took so long-

A special thanx to all my AWESOME reviewers for reading so far…

Queen of the red skittle

DalouA

M1dn1te

Undead666

Zillah 91

Dawley

Prairiefire

Telboriel

PrimarchRuss

Bill Everyman

Bastet1023

This is for you DalouA and Undead666 AND M1dn1te!

R&R

oOo

**Urban Legend.**

Back to the Predators…

All three Predators took camp in a high tree and Sarket was tending to his wounds. With the sealer in his hand, Sarket pressed the button to make the hot beam sear his flesh and he flinched, hissing in pain.

Drekane snorted at Sarket's weakness, _"Oh get some balls you twit."_

Sarket growled threateningly, _"I'd like to see you try it when it's so close to your pride!"_

"_Ki'cte!" _Ray'jin barked. He was far too tired to listen to a pitiful dispute in the middle of the night.

Sarket shot a last look of disdain at Drekane before deciding to change the subject and turned to Ray'jin. _"If you don't mind me asking." _Sarket started, _"Why are you so interested in that winged ooman?"_

Ray'jin was caught off guard but recovered quickly and tried to come up with a reasonable, and truthful, answer, _"I'm not sure why, but there is something about her that seems almost…familiar."_

Sarket looked at him puzzled, _"What do you mean?"_

oOo

On the Predator ship…

The computer chirruped after some time to announce that the upload, scanning, analyses reconfiguration and reconstruct was completed. A holographic image slowly started to materialize to display a rough representation of the organism from which the DNA was obtained, much like digital cloning, but only the image of the organism and a rough construction of body structure and internal organs and skeletal structure can be obtained from bio extract, not all of the information can be read as there is too much to interpret. All body function right down to the functions that take place in each cell has to be obtained through extensive research with the proper bio extract available.

But it was enough to grab the Elder's undivided attention.

He looked on in aw at the rotating image materializing in front of him. It emerged at a slightly faster rate to resemble an ooman, as that data was already in the system, but it slowed and slowly changed. The hazy red indicated flesh and defined the probable location of organs while a much brighter red, which indicated the skeletal structure was growing brighter which meant that the bones were denser than normal. The skeletal structure started changing further and two limb like structures started to 'sprout' from below the shoulder blades. The part of the ribs joined at the spine caved in slightly to create shallow groves along the spinal column. The rib cage expanded slightly to accommodate a larger than normal heart and lungs. The limbs protruding from the back extended fully outward to reveal what they truly were…

Wings.

The Elder was awestruck, he couldn't believe what he was seeing…

"_Could it be…? Impossible…"_

He leaned in closer to study the image. His brow furrowed in concentration. The gears in his head were turning. Something was tweaking at the back of his mind…

The Elder was cut from his trail of thought by a loud chirrup from the computer. He looked properly at the screen again to see details of the bio extract come up on the screen.

OOMAN … 98

UNKNOWN … 2

GENDER … XX

"_Interesting" _The Elder clicked to himself with a claw under his chin, _"Better contact the others then…"_

oOo

Back to the Predators…

Ray'jin thought for a moment, _"I can't place my claw on it." _he admitted, _'It seems like…a memory from a dream…'_

_FLASHBACK…_

_It was night and it was time to rest so that we were ready for our next day of training from mother. I was one of three. We were all young pups then, I being the second oldest to my other siblings. We all lay curled up in our warm furs ready to sleep. My oldest brother around two cycles older than me was fast asleep, as his day of training had worn him out. I of course, with my young mind, was very eager to train the hardest I could to become a great warrior amongst the clan. The thrill of hunting something bigger and stronger than me excited me so I was too anxious to fall asleep with ease. Mother was holding my sister who was a cycle younger than me in her nightly routine of purring to lull her to sleep, but not this night. My sister was also too anxious about what the next day will bring._

_So mother did the next best thing she could think of…_

"_Would you like to hear an ancient tale that has been passed down through many generations?" I heard her say_

_I huffed silently to myself with no interest in an overrated story and turned over to stare at the wall. This was my corner and on this wall hung some of my small souvenirs of my attempts at hunting. The small skulls decorating the wall ranged from the common native animals and lizards and the same wall hung all of my dahdtoudi given to me by my sire and mother._

_I then became aware that mother was speaking again…_

"_This ancient tale tells of a prophecy that came to be eons ago by a race that existed well before ours"._

_I still had my back turned to show I had no interest but I was now listening to her words._

"_These beings derived from the center of this great galaxy, were all the energies that exist there changed their way of life and gave them the power needed to 'see' far ahead into the future. They could see for billions of cycles ahead and see things that were going to happen that didn't even concern them for these visions took place in different regions, different worlds, old and the new to come in this galaxy. When we were capable of exploring the stars, we searched them for different prey to hunt. We found a few species that could provide the hunt, and as our search continued across the stars, we met Them. Our first meeting was strange because they accepted our presence almost too quickly. As if they knew they would meet us one day. Their leaders made contact with us in ways that drew us to learn about them more. The old records claim that they were a honourable species and told everything about them to the first explorers, but their race was in peril. They were going to die. They knew that their time had come, but not by our hands, but by the very hands that keep this universe together. The very essence that keeps them alive was diminishing, their star was dieing. In return for their tales, we offered to help relocate them but they refused to do so. Even with their great technology behind them, they chose to die with the very thing that was the bringer of life on their world. They believed that if they were brought forth after its birth, then they should be taken back when it died. They refused to be the only ones left behind of their system and take a world that didn't belong to them. We were amazed at how these species had so much honour and we felt compelled to ask for something, anything that could remind the future of this species greatness. They said that material things, even stone will diminish through time but words would last forever if they were not forgotten, so tell your children and those to come of our tale. That way, we will continue to live…in memory._

_The first explorers were taken further aback by this answer, but saw reason and truth in their words. They accepted without question and promised to retell the tale to their young to come and to those that deserved to be graced with this fond memory._

_Their time was growing short. The star had increased further in size and the temperature was rising over the months. It was just a matter of time before the seas evaporated completely and everything died._

_As the first explorers prepared to leave a young female approached them. They thought that she probably wanted to say her final goodbyes and wish them a fulfilling voyage but that was not what she intended at first. There was another tale to tell._

_As she approached us her keeper or parent tried to call her back but she didn't stop till she reached us. The older one finally caught up to her and was ready to scold her for her disobedience but we could see that there was more, so we stepped in and let her tell her tale._

_She said that she was a healer, that healers are very rare amongst their species for healers have the power to heal other living thing's wounds right before your eyes. She said that she could also 'see' and she saw what was to come in a very far future in a distant corner of the galaxy. A new revelation has dawned on this distant world and a new race will immerge from the ashes and prosper to dominance. You will find them and deem them worthy prey for they will possess strength of mind, not brawn. Eventually, their hunger for power will rise to the point where they deem themselves as gods and play with the lives of others. Their heartless acts are to cause pain and suffering to gain the position to rule the entire planet. One such victim will be brought forth. She will possess great power and rule the skies. Her name is the very call of nature. The sound of her name hisses and roars in a language we don't understand. They don't deserve to have her. Her heart knows honour, so these sinners don't deserve the life they have. They must not get their way with her and use her for war, for if they do, the result will end in chaos and destruction of their entire race. Darkness will overwhelm them and the hunt will end on this world, for the darkness will consume you if you stand on its soil. Please, include this tale amongst the others and if your race finds her, save her from those corrupt hands._

_Over time, the tale became legend, legend became myth and thus…was the prophecy." _

_I was stunned at this tale and turned over to look at my mothers lost look. The look on her face seemed that she was contemplating if this prophecy will indeed rise out of the ashes of time like the fiery winged one and come to be…_

_END FLASHBACK…_

At this point Sarket growled with impatience, _"Ray'jin, get your head out of the clouds and back here were it belongs!"_

Ray'jin jumped at the hushed outburst, _"Forgive me, but something just came to my mind-"_

As if on queue, Sarket's wrist computer chirruped with an incoming transmission. He accessed it to reveal the image of Elder Dærensé.

The Elder spoke first, _"I have the results_ _you requested. They are coming through now." _The heat hologram appeared and both Ray'jin and Sarket leaned in for a better look. Drekane still sat in his far corner of the tree but looked in as well from a distance. Ray'jin studied the image intensely, _"Elder, Do you perhaps think that this creature is the one in that ancient prophecy?"_

Drekane nearly fell off his branch, _"You can't possibly believe in that old tale!"_

"_I believe it's a possibility." _Ray'jin admitted.

Sarket looked skeptical, looking from one to the other, as he wasn't sure what to think of this, even though he had heard the tale before.

The image of the elder returned,_"…It can't be…Her…" _Elder Dærensé argued,_ " Then again. It all adds up. The oomans fit the description in the prophecy perfectly. The experimentation, the corrupt pursue for power by playing paya. This one may have wings to rule the sky but…does she have power? What is her name? Is she truly the one we've been waiting for? As for 'The darkness' mentioned in the prophecy. What could that possibly mean…?" _

"_I'm not sure elder…" _Ray'jin said, thinking about how the winged ooman kept that warrior _Kainde Amedha_ from killing her earlier that day and how she turned the tables and killed it instead. He looked up through the leaves at the twin moons looming above, _"I'm really not sure…" _

The puzzle pieces were coming together…but the picture was still incomplete.

oOo

At the station; Outside…

"Come on people…" Major McCane bellowed, "Get that junk off the ground bay doors so the scientists and engineers can get working on that back up ship."

Andrew ran up to Major McCane with Mr. Weyland jogging behind. Andrew was the first to speak with urgency, "Sir, let me lead a team out there and find Storm, she could be in trouble."

"We can't spare the man power Andrew, Who knows what's out there…" Major McCane trailed off as he looked towards the trees looming at the tops of the cliffs.

Weyland, as much as he hated, had to nod in agreement, "Indeed. There's something about this place that has some of the men spooked. They keep studying the cliffs, the… _trees_ with trepidation.

McCane raised an eye brow, "Why do you say that?"

'_If I did, I'd doubt you'd believe me…' _Weyland thought as he shrugged his shoulders, a lie for he knew the truth but he did it to preserve his sanity. He turned his gaze to the trees, _'I pray I'm wrong. I just hope you're alright Storm…'_

oOo

At the station; Hours later in the science lab…

"YOU LET HER GET AWAY!" Dr. Philips yelled at Rafe who unconsciously flattened his ears against his skull in a vain attempt to lessen the pummel of sound waves invading his sensitive ears. Dr. Philips back handed him and marched around to include the other Erasers in his line of fire, "IDIOTS…I'M SURROUNDED BY USELESS IDIOTS. GOD, DO I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING!"

Rafe growled softly in anger but kept it in check. Dr Philips snatched something off a nearby table, turned and approached Rafe again, the rage evident in his expression was noticeably diminishing to be replaced with a dark smile, "You're lucky I have such a brilliant mind" Dr. Philips gloated and flipped his hand to reveal the controller that he used on Storm the day before, "The chip in the cerebellum of Storm's brain is a tracer as well as a devise to cause her pain which is the only way to cripple her power temporarily." He placed the controller in Rafe's paw and looked once more behind him at the group of Erasers, his brow furrowed slightly with confusion, "Where's Mike?" he asked.

One of the other Erasers spoke, "I didn't see him on the drop ship after out meeting with Storm yesterday."

Dr. Philips humphed, "Why am I not surprised. He probably got ripped apart by some of the more ferocious predators on this planet. He always was a poor excuse for an Eraser." He looked back at Rafe and in a serious tone, he said, "You should realize by know that my hypothesis was correct. You know that an action causes a reaction. So you have to wonder, what action causes Storm's power to react?"

The other Erasers looked puzzled at this one.

"Motive." Dr. Philips answered, "If you act like machines and show no evidence of your motives in your hearts then your as good as a harmless leaf. The sooner we get Storm, the sooner we can steal that ship the others above are busy with and get back to Earth. Now go and do whatever it takes. Get her back."

oOo

Somewhere in the jungle; Late morning…

Storm woke up at the sound of rustling in the heavy foliage below the tree she took refuge in for the night. That little scuffle, not eating for a day and the night flight exhausted her to the point where she was gliding blind. Now she sat bolt upright, nearly falling out of the branches she was nestled in. Her first thought, that Rafe was lurking somewhere below her. Her heart thundered and she cautiously peeked through the tangle of branches at the jungle floor, but closer inspection revealed for it to be one of the native animals nibbling on the lower leaves within it's reach.

Her stomach growled and she frowned, _'Well, better try and find something to eat then. I can't run on fumes all day.' _She thought to herself and took off from her tree.

The genes that changed her life came both as a blessing and a curse, besides the fact that she can fly and some unknown factor that gave her her power, knowing the difference between good fruit and those that were poisonous time bombs came as naturally to her as flying did. The curse of the latter was that the raptor in her genes got the better of her when she was down by a lake washing up. As fast as lightning, Storm snatched some fish thing from the water and started to feast on it. The human side of her wanted to gag. It never was one for sushi.

She washed her mouth out with some of the water. Anything to get rid of the taste that was threatening her gut to retroject its exotic brunch. When she felt at ease, a thought hit her like a ton of bricks, _'Dr. Philips…I must warn Mr. Weyland…'_

With that thought in mind, Storm spread her wings and took off north over the jungle.

oOo

Jungle floor…

The Predators trekked cautiously across the jungle floor ready to spring into action if something were to ambush them. They weaved through the towering trees that seemed to touch the sky. The sun rolling high above them pierced the thick canopy above and sent streams of blue dappled sunlight to decorate the fern crowded ground. The jungle was quiet…_too _quiet.

Ray'jin was not happy about the sound of it, not at all. There was always _some_ form of noise to indicate life but right now…the jungle was _dead _quiet, both above and below. His assumptions were proved correct when a twig fell from above and a few winged creatures screeched in alarm as they flew away.

Ray'jin whipped out his spear. Something _was_ following them. The other Predators followed suit and the sounds of unsheathing wristblades and activating shoulder cannons sang a song of death in the quiet air.

"_What is it?" _Sarket rattled.

Above, a familiar dark face peeked through the top branches of one of the trees, hissing and baring its silver teeth in challenge. Its drool oozed to the ground in long tendrils.

Drekane was casing the trees, shifting through his visions, growling, as the trunks of the trees were too dense to scan through to see whatever was hiding behind them. He raised his arms out in a threatening manner.

The odd dark form pounced from tree to tree when the Predators weren't looking in their direction.

Drekane backed up slowly, growling, ready for any sudden attack, then a thick glob of slime landed on his left shoulder.

"_Kainde amedha!" _Ray'jin hissed

All of a sudden, Alien skreeee's and hissed reverberated throughout the trees and about twelve dark serpents revealed themselves from behind their trees. They hissed and spat like cats at their enemy.

They were surrounded and Sarket let loose a hot bolt of plazma at the one staring him down. The alien hissed and backed behind the tree. The bolt hit in a ball of blue fire and left scorch marks on the bark.

The other aliens started to pounce from tree to tree, getting closer to the Predators. The Predators let loose a barrage of blue bolts at the alien's flying forms between the trees. One managed to hit an alien in the side and it blasted it into a hail of acid rain that singed the bark of the surrounding trees wherever it touched. Most of the other bolts either missed their targets completely or connected with the trees, scorching the bark, or at the most, blasting small chunks of wood out of the trunks.

"_It's no good." _Ray'jin hissed, _"The trees are too strong. They are using them as shields!"_

One of the aliens got close enough and pounced at Ray'jin. He brought his spear around in defense to parry the blow of the alien barreling full force into him. The alien made contact and struggled to get past Ray'jin's defense. It's jaws snapped out at him and Ray'jin pushed forward and to the side to throw the alien off him. The alien wrapped its tail around him and dragged Ray'jin onto the floor. They both flipped over one another in a power struggle to dominate the other. Another flip and Ray'jin unsheathed his wristblades as he rolled onto his feet and made sure the blades caught the alien's throat. The blades sank about half way through the neck before coming free again. Acid blood erupted from the wound. The alien cried out in a gargled hiss before lunging at Ray'jin again with its tail. Ray'jin caught it with his left hand and came around in a round kick. His foot connected with the alien's skull causing the last unscathed chitin-like flesh to snap back on contact. The alien was dead before it hit the ground.

Sarket was holding his own and shot a net at another alien hurtling towards him. He dodged out of the way. The net was already winding itself up and cutting into the alien's dark flesh. Acid blood bubbled up through the cuts as the alien struggled to break free but Sarket would not hesitate and give the net the chance to fail on him and he thrust his spear down through the alien's skull.

Drekane fought well but failed to see the new breed's serrated tail arching behind him as he struggled against the assault of the alien in front of him. He only just managed to throw the alien in front of him away when the tail struck right through his chest. He roared and dropped his spear. The new alien warrior turned him around and hissed into his face, opened its jaws wide…and delivered the killer blow.

The leader spoke to the new warrior, _/You…serve the royalty well…/_

Green luminescent blood had spattered onto the jungle floor, suddenly a large shadow cut across the dappled sunbeams…

_/It's the winged one! Retreat and go after her. The rest of you, stay behind and distract these ones./ _The leader said to the others.

The new warrior had thrown the corpse on the end of its tail away and had already started out into the jungle before the leader could even finish.

The battle continued to rage on as the leader and another alien went after the new warrior to assist.

oOo

Above the canopy…

Storm flew hard towards the station. As she glided above the canopy, she could here quite a lot of noise below, but couldn't see anything past the thick canopy at the shady ground below. Storm chose to ignore it and pushed harder to get to the station as fast as possible.

oOo

At the station…

Rafe and the other Erasers, now in their human forms, had armed themselves with sniper rifles normally allocated to the synthetics. _'Dr. Philips did say whatever it takes, and I shall.' _Rafe thought to himself. He fixed a silencer to the end of the barrel and took aim at the growing dark figure in the sky. He remembered what Dr. Philips warned him, _'Make sure there is no trace of your motives…' _He closed his eyes to suppress them and looked through the scope once more, _'Be like machines…'_ He felt his heart grow empty and he smiled, '_This time…you're going down…'_

His finger lightly squeezed on the trigger…

oOo

Above the canopy…

'_Almost there…just a few more minutes…' _Storm thought to herself but she stopped at the feel of a threat coming from below. Before she could even blink in confusion, fire burned in her right wing and it suddenly went cripple.

She could feel herself falling and she tried to get a grip on the air but to no avail. The pain was too intense and she saw the canopy rush towards her.

Storm folded her wings tightly in the hollows of her back in preparation for a crash landing. She felt leaves and twigs scratch at her limbs. She folded into herself some more in preparation to crash into the ground but it never came. She felt her body halt in mid air. Through her numbing mind, she could feel something gripping her around her waist and a stinking sensation burning in her side. She opened an eye and saw something dark wrapped around her waist, something skeletal…

'_No…' _was the last thing that crossed her mind before her world faded into darkness once again…

oOo

Ehehe…oh yeah…takes off at top speed before M1dn1te can retaliate

-Storm Graveheart

(SR3.3.3)

"I think I feel the wind picking up…"


	15. Dejavu

A/N: Guys, you won't believe this. I'm feeling all giddy at the moment. Have no care of the world. I'm on cloud 9. I am high. Not on heroine or any of the other nasty drugs out there. –giggles- of all things, I am high on Catnip…and so is my cat!

Oh…and I also feel VERY disappointed in the lot of you (This is not for my reviewers) This is for the lot of you who read and don't review. Yes…I'm talking like…over 100 hits on chapter 14 alone (fact) in 3 weeks and what do I get…6 reviews!…SIX!…ugh…I feel very sad now…Thanks to m1dn1te999, I now have Half-Life 1, so I'm enjoying the recreation hunt there…XD. At least that has put me back in a good mood. And to top it off, M1dn1te's cousin in law (guy) challenged me to a match in Quake 3 arena. 5 matches…I win 4…by the 5th match, I got so bored that I let him win that round.

…Now I feel all giddy again…

and I discovered that anonymous reviews were disabled, so now they're enabled! –smile-

Uh…here's the next chapter…

oOo

**De-Ja-Vu. **

With the Predators…

The aliens were slowly leading the Predators in a different direction. Now only two aliens remained. They darted and dived between the trees until Sarket got a bit impatient and tossed his spear at one of them, the spear pegged the alien, only to have the body hanging half way up the tree. Ray'jin threw his disk, aiming for the last alien hissing at him from behind a tree. The alien noticed the spinning saw of death and ducked behind the tree, unfortunately, the disk's tracer caused the disk to veer left were the alien's head supposedly was behind the tree and got stuck in the bark. Ray'jin cursed,_ "C'jit these trees, why do have to be so dense?" _he snarled. The alien decided that play time was over and started to leap through the trees back to the hive.

Sarket started but Ray'jin placed a clawed hand on his shoulder to stop him, _" Let the coward run. I have a feeling it won't be the last we see of it."_

Sarket knodded and they both climbed their respective trees to claim their weapons decorating them and started to head towards were Drekane's corpse lay. When they got there, they discovered that the planet's native scavengers had already had a go at Drekane's body. It was torn to shreds!

Ray'jin was pissed at this vile treatment of the dead of his race but there was nothing he could do about it now but get rid of the evidence.

He unclipped a canister from his belt and poured the substance evenly over Drekane's remains. On contact the substance ate away at Drekane's body only to leave a tacky puddle of protoplasmic goop without a DNA trace. They continued their trek towards the station once more.

oOo

At the science lab…

"Well…were is she?" Dr. Philips asked impatiently. Rafe stepped forward, "She got away again _but _for good reason-"

Dr. Philips raised a brow, "And what do you mean by that?" he asked, sarcasm evident in his voice.

"We went to scout the area were Storm was last after I shot her in the wing. I did as you suggested and intended to shoot the humerus of her right wing to cripple her ability to fly away before we could catch her, but she turned at the last moment and I instead shot her below the wrist of her right wing-"

"Get to the point." Dr. Philips snapped

Rafe bowed his head slightly, "Well, we didn't find her but we did find this…" Rafe dug in his science coat and pulled out a vial. As he lifted it up for Dr. Philips to see, there was evidently some sort of viscid substance in it, "…we found this slime on the jungle floor. I believe it belongs to our little black friends." He said with a smirk.

A morbid grin twisted Dr. Philips features, "Perfect."

oOo

The last place you want to be…

"_Where…am I…?" _Storm groggily thought to herself when she became aware that she was conscious again. She tried to move but couldn't and wound up hissing in pain from a burning sensation in her side…, _"Wait…that was a Xeno…curse the creep…he stunned me with the end if its tail! Then that must mean…SHIT!" _Storm's eyes snapped open to reinforce the truth of the situation that chilled her to the bone.

The first thing Storm saw was the thick slime caked across her chest, then passed the lumps decorating the floor and saw the ribbed walls which made the place look****sepulchral, back to the lumps on the floor and only then realized what they were…

Eggs…

In the middle of a Xenomorph hive

"Holy…(Enter swear word of your choice here)" Storm whispered and regretted it immediately and clamped her mouth shut when she noticed a few of the eggs shift and squelch. Storm began to fight hard against the slimy bonds gluing her to the wall but her body started to complain with painful remarks. Another thrash and her wing gave her a painful reminder of the hole in it. She hissed again in pain, _"Shit, my wing. How in hell did that happen…Oh GOD…" _Storm felt the blood rush away from her face as she saw the telltale sign of creamy spindly legs wriggle and squirm through the open tops of the eggs.

Storm thrashed harder and ignored the waves of pain coursing through her body on top of a newly developing headache. The slime started to stress and tear, '_Come near me and I'LL KILL YOU!' _

_**(Surely you don't mean that?)**_

Storm was at a loss for words, she heard that in her mind. She looked around in fear at the walls coming to life. Black shadows moved across the walls. Her brow furrowed, Why did this 'feel' so familiar?…Storm's train of thought derailed and she gasped…

…'_The dream'_…

_**(I'm glad you remember.)**_

_/Who are you?…show yourself./_

_**(You know me.)**_

Storm looked down in fear at the face hugger things beginning to congregate around her feet. She was ready to send them on free flying trips if they dare pounced…but they didn't.

_**(Don't fear. Neither of my young ones here are for you.)**_

_/What do you want with me/_

_**(For you to join my hive.)**_

_/And what if I don't want to/_

_**(I have a proposal for you.)**_

_/Please answer my question. /_

_**(Stubborn I see. Well, I'll forgive you for not knowing my rank here 'cause you asked so nicely but I warn you that you treat me with respect here in the future.) **_

_THUMP!_

The face huggers around her feet scattered and scuttled towards the far corners of the room to look for other live hosts along the walls. Some were successful and muffled howls and different screeches echoed throughout the darkness where Storm couldn't see.

_THUMP!_

Storm looked to the darkness on her left where the noise was coming from.

_THUMP!_

Something big stirred and came into Storm's line of sight…

_Something stirs in the darkness and a huge black shield appears. It lifts, revealing silver blades of swords. But it's not swords…it's the teeth of something. Its whole body is revealed and it looks like a skeleton fossil of some dinosaur that is yet to be discovered._

Storm's eyes widened…

…The Queen.

_**(Now you hold the fate of your decision in your hands. This can either go the easy way…or the hard way as…the humans say it)**_

Storm stared at the monster before her, _/Wait, you know I'm not-/_

_**(Completely human?…A bit obvious I think.)**_

Storm found herself lost for words yet again.

_**(Though I personally think they have no love for you.)**_

_/What/_

_**(The humans share no love for you.)**_

_/That's a lie. I have friends /_

_**(Are they truly your friends?)**_

_/Last I checked, yeah. Some of them are spineless snakes and want nothing more than to see me dead for their own reasons but my friends saved me from them before a long time ago. /_

_**(They will die.)**_

_/WHAT/_

_**(A common enemy draws nearer. They share no compassion towards us and will not spare anything. Join with us willingly and help us defeat them.)**_

Storm looked down at her chest…supposedly were that new chip was imbedded.

_/I can't do that. /_

_**(Then I have no choice than to take you by force. As of this moment, my warriors will lead an attack on ALL our enemies. Nothing will survive!)**_

The Queen lifted her head towards the ceiling with a loud screech and all the black serpents clinging to the walls started to converge together into one flowing black river and leading towards the same exit.

_/No… /_

_**(Farewell for now child. My chosen youngling will be ready soon. Your power will be mine…)**_

With those last words, the Queen seemed to vaporize into millions of tiny glowing bubbles that faded into darkness.

"NOOO!" Storm screamed out her defiance and fought against her restraints harder. The disappearing image of the Queen only proved to be a mind induced hallucination. The Queen had been in her chambers the whole time, _'Damn her. Damn them all' _Storm cursed in her thoughts and felt a violation of her thoughts. It seemed that the Queen was keeping close tabs on her.

With a little manipulation of her power, Storm kept her mind imprisoned from outside forces, keeping her thoughts private. Storm had done this with Tania a few times before only because Tania had taught her how because when Storm was younger, she would 'probe' around to get answers and Tania had to protect Storm from certain information, only because a little knowledge can be very dangerous.

The violation disappeared but the 'probing' came back much harder and Storm had to put a bit more force into it. It seemed that the Queen's abilities were a little stronger than she thought, but she succeeded in keeping the Queen out of her head.

'_Curse her and her stupid mind games. Trying to turn me against my friends, I'm not that stupid. If I weren't here, I'd be at the station_ _right now_ _warning Mr. Weyland about Dr. Philips and the Erasers. They're in danger. They're going to die and I'm NOT THERE!'_

With an explosive surge of anger mixed with the adrenalin still pumping through her veins and one good twist, the side of the slimy cocoon joining the wall on Storm's right started to give way in thick tendrils.

'_I've gotta get out. Can't let that thing impregnate me. Can't let Dr. Philips win. Must save Tania, Weyland…Dr. Philips must…not…WIN.'_

With a final push, the slimy lid pushed open like Dracula's mouldy coffin strung with sticky cobwebs

As Storm got to her feet her first thought was to nurse her damaged wing. She winced when she tried to move them, they were stiff and sore, and catching the state of her feathers covered in places with stray strands of the Xeno goop, her blood instantly began to boil from pure rage. _'My feathers!…any idea how long that's going to take to wash out!' _She argued with no one. Storm was as mad as any normal girl waking up on a bad hair day! She was furious!

And free to escape this hell hole.

With one goal in mind.

To get to the station before it was too late.

Summoning her power she created a field around her and pushed it out at such an alarming rate that a whole chunk of what was the U.S.S Verloc exploded outwards in a spray of shrapnel and Xeno resin shards.

An almighty screech reverberated throughout the intact walls of the Xeno hive and without a second thought, Storm shrunk the field again to surround her like a hazy blue bubble and she ran for it.

Towards the canyon wall, with the aid of her levitation abilities to run up the steep side, Storm sailed up and over the edge and crashed through the jungle like an unstoppable cannonball.

'_I just hope I'm not too late…'_

oOo

A/N. Don't worry about me. I think…as soon as this fog in my head clears up…I'll be able to walk in a straight line…and write clearly.

RAVEN: Midnite was SO right. You are definitely NOT human Storm. Perhaps you should go to bed before you hurt yourself.

STORM: Yeah…I'll do that…-barely misses the wall-

RAVEN: I'll go hide Tiggy's Catnip treats away from you ok.

STORM: …Pinch and a punch for the first of the month!

-Storm

(SR333)

"Touch down."


	16. The last straw

A/N Well what do you know…I GOT 13 REVIEWS! Oh I'm so happy, and when I'm happy, good things happen…like a very long and early update! Thanx you guys. Reviews truly make my day and truly encouraged me to write faster. A special thanks to my first 2 anonymous reviewers,

Shade and

Sara 'devilchu'

you made me hop off my seat from excitement! YAY!

So um…over 100 hits (again)…OH! And look at this…there are people that have this story on their favourites list that haven't sent me a single review…(That's right …I know EXACTLY who you are… like…)

Cutelittlekitten 18

Iconofcoolness

Jueru2003

Kitten2

Oh the freaky lil children

Arabelle James

BJACKSON244

Youkolover

And…eep!…Veria Fornman!…er…O…k…I think I'll just let you read in peace…

oOo

**The last straw.**

With the Predators…

Ray'jin and Sarket managed to trek to the Ooman base without detection and were now crouched on one of the surrounding Cliffside to assess the situation and wait for the perfect opportunity to strike…

oOo

At the station: outside…

Weyland watched as one of the scientists approached him, "How's the repairs?" he asked, beginning to breath heavily as the lack of oxygen in the atmosphere was beginning to take it's toll.

The scientist smiled slightly behind the atmosphere converter clamped around his throat and nodded his head in understanding before digging in his coat for a spare converter and handing it to Mr. Weyland. Weyland took the converter with a sigh of relief and fixed the converter around his throat and took a deep breath of fresh air.

"Sir…", the scientist said to get Weyland's attention.

Weyland looked to him to continue.

"Sir, the repairs are going well. We've managed to successfully raise the ship's systems to nearly eighty percent. We should be ready to leave in several hours." The scientist confirmed.

Weyland nodded, "Good, the sooner we get off this rock, the better." Weyland then noticed the scientist's eyes widen and stare skyward in awe behind him. He turned to see what the scientist was looking at and shaded his eyes against the harsh blue glare of the sky that was patching itself here and there with thick fluffy gray clouds.

Weyalnd closed his eyes slightly to focus on the figure, "Tania…?"

"Mr. Weyland." Tania called out to him and swooped down to land beside him.

Weyland embraced her with a hug, "Tania, thank God, I thought you might've gotten yourself hurt out there. It's one thing that Storm is missing, I didn't want to worry over you too. At least Storm is capable of defending herself." He let her go and rested his hands on her shoulders and got serious, "Did you manage to find her?"

Tania looked down at the ground, "No." she said in a barely audible voice.

"Damn." Weyland hissed and let go of Tania and turned himself slightly to think about the situation.

The scientist managed to find his voice again, "Er…miss…?" he managed to get out while extending his hand holding a converter towards Tania. Tania gave him a puzzled look over the thing that said, _'What's that?'_

Weyland snapped out of his reverie at the sight of this in his peripheral vision and motioned his hand at the converter to be put away. The scientist looked skeptical and hesitated before putting the spare converter back in his coat pocket. He looked to Weyland for an explanation.

Weyland saw the begged question across the scientist's features and answered, "Er…genetic thing. It's because of Tania's avian DNA encoded into her own that she has a larger than normal pair of lungs so that she can fly and respire with ease in the upper Thermosphere back on Earth. Basically, the thin air here is the same in that prospect.

The scientist's mouth formed an 'O' as realization finally dawned on him. He turned to go back to the ship when…

"Ah…so nice of you to join us." said a deep resonating voice.

Weyland turned to the owner of the voice to see an old man in a lab coat surrounded by seven young, good looking scientists.

"And you are…?" Weyland asked coolly.

The old man acted hurt, "Come now Weyland. I thought that after all these years, you'd at least recognize me."

Weyland noticed the surrounding scientists smirking slightly, "It's a big world out there." he retorted, "I've met many people."

The old man sneered, "Not all of them…I got away." He noticed Weyland's befuddled look and motioned his head towards the girl standing next to Weyland, "Why don't you ask her?"

Weyland turned to Tania to realize that she was as white as a sheet.

_/D…D…Dr…Philips/ _Tania managed to get out to Weyland's mind as she found it too difficult to form the actual words in her mouth.

"WHAT!" Weyland managed to get out as he realized the seriousness of the situation.

Dr. Philips smiled evilly, "I see that Tania has injected her two cents worth. Revenge is going to be so sweet.

Next thing Weland knew was that the young scientists surrounding them started to transform into werewolf looking creatures.

Fortunately, Major McCane and his remaining squad of marines heard Weyland's outburst and barged into the scene with their assault rifles and immediately took aim at the sight of the wolfish creatures surrounding Weyland and the girl that he took care of.

Dr. Philips, knowing that marines are always the type to shoot first and ask questions later, pulled out the controller and held it up for everyone to see, "I wouldn't do that." He countered. "Tell them to lower their weapons. NOW."

Weyland hesitated, trying to read Dr. Philips expression but failed. He motioned his hand in a downward motion, a signal to the marines to lower their weapons.

Andrew, who was standing amongst the ranks of armed marines hesitated and looked to Major McCane for confirmation. Major McCane slowly nodded his head once and Andrew slowly lowered his assault rifle, as did everyone else.

Dr. Philips grinned evilly, "My greatest creation has finally been achieved! Now that the backup ship is in working order, we'll be taking it back to Earth. The whole world will bow before me."

Weyland looked at the old man like he had finally lost his marbles, "What do you mean?"

"What did you do to Storm?" Tania demanded.

Dr, Philips beamed, "I'm glad you finally asked." Using his thumb, he activated the controller in his hand so that the black screen lit up to show a blinking light heading closer to the center of a crosshair displayed on the screen. "That light is a tracer that was in Storm's chest cavity until we got her caught by the Xenomorphs." He grinned, "The rest goes down hill from there. Now that tracer is in the new hybrid…coming here right now."

oOo

From their vantage point, Ray'jin growled at the sight of the device in the bad blood ooman's hand. He remembered what the ooman did to the winged female, _'He's going to pay dearly for what he did.' _He promised to himself.

Sarket looked up in Ray'jin's direction to say something else when he noticed the jungle down south suddenly come to life as smaller winged creatures took off from their branches, screeching in alarm. _"What the…?" _he clicked in bewilderment.

They both looked on and just stared at the things swarming through the jungle.

Ray'jin clicked, _"My paya…"_

oOo

Both Tania and Weyland were horrified beyond compare and watched as Dr. Philips chuckled in accomplishment to himself.

"Finally, the little bitch is out of my fur." piped Rafe in an evil sneer.

The sky had darkened and bird-like creatures suddenly erupted over the space in the canyon, screeching in alarm.

Everyone went silent and looked at the birds in surprise at there sudden outburst, then gaped in horror at the black mass beginning to swarm down the side of the canyon.

"Oh my God…" Weyland whispered and turned to face Dr. Philips again only to discover that he had run off with the rest of his entourage. "Damn." He cursed and spun around trying to locate him but without success.

The marines had started to fire up at the approaching xenomorphs, launching gun grenades and catching the serpents in a hail of bullets. Brass chipped at stone and black chitin, causing shattered rock and acid blood to fly through the air.

But it wasn't enough to keep them at bay.

The xenomorphs were mere meters from the ground. Suddenly the sound of an engine roared and a drop ship reared out of the upper storage hanger of the station. There was the familiar whir and clank of metal and its last two rockets were suddenly set loose from the drop ship. They ripped through the air and collided at the base of the cliff in an almighty explosion, which sent black bodies and debris to sail through the air.

Major McCane yelled out from the uproar, "WEYLAND, TAKE THIS…" and he threw a pulse rifle at Weyland. Weyland caught the weapon in one hand and began to cut down the xenomorphs. Before he knew it, the gun ran dry with a dreadful 'click' and refused to spit out any more seeds of destruction. He fell back to be with Tania…

oOo

Dr. Philips was grinning proudly when he found himself in a personal meeting with the new warrior praetorian and ignorant to believe that this new type of warrior was his new creation. "Magnificent…" Dr. Philips whispered in awe and no doubt mild fear at the demon steadily stalking him, the air of bloodlust radiating from its frame.

Dr. Philips backed up farther still talking to the preatorian, "The changes are not quite what I expected. I was sure in my calculations that the avian DNA in your host would provide you with the ability to develop wings of some sort and have a body more sleek, agile and deadly." He stopped when he heard Weyland's voice in the midst of rapid gunfire around the corner and grinned, _'Perhaps my pet doesn't realize who I am yet…"_He searched for a means to escape and spotted a side entrance door in his peripheral vision. He backed up closer to the door and fumbled with the knob. The preatorian looked down at his hand and peeled its black lips back to fully reveal rows of silver blade-like teeth and the inner mouth twitching behind the confines of the first row of teeth, itching for the razor edged cage to part open so that it may leap out and kill. It crouched to the rocky floor ready to leap but cocked its head.

'_Why do I feel so much hatred towards this human…?' _The praetorian asked itself, _'No matter…it will die."_

It launched and Dr. Philips pushed the door open and swung himself in out of the preatorian's path. The preatorian landed in the open again and turned to see two terrified humans cowering against the wall…

oOo

Weyland looked up ahead of Tania to see the black monstrosity begin to stalk them steadily, hissing and teeth flashing, tail whipping from side to side and the jagged blade-like tip shining in the dimming light.

Tania started to whimper and tears brimmed in her eyes, "Storm…what have they done to you…?"

The preatorian didn't falter and stalked closer. Weyland was so busy looking in morbid horror that he failed to see a drone sneaking up behind him. The drone brought its tail up and silently showed its silver teeth in a death grin before thrusting the tail forward…

Tania screamed when she saw a black skeletal tail burst out of Weland's chest in a spray of blood. The blood laced across the other alien's domed head and it hissed. Weyland's right hand, holding the gun, shuddered and loosened its grip on the handle causing the gun to land with a sharp thud on the ground.

The drone hissed at its skewered prey before flicking its tail to the side. Weyland's body was thrown and it sailed through the air to land and roll before coming to a dead stop.

The drone looked at the new warrior, _/Go brother. The Queen knows of your hatred towards one. I will take care of this one while you seek vengeance /_

The praetorian hesitated. It couldn't understand why he felt so much loathing for the human. Perhaps his host held hatred for the human before he died.

The drone continued/_Also the Queen's orders are to eliminate the other winged one when found. Apparently she escaped the hive before impregnation. She'll most likely come here /_

The praetorian lowered his head slightly in understanding before turning and loping away

That left Tania to face death…alone…

oOo

Storm continued in her crash through the jungle and suddenly felt the life of one that was close to her blink out like a light, leaving a hole of darkness in her heart. _'Mr. Weyland…' _She closed her eyes tightly for a moment at the loss, _'you were like a father to me and Tania-' _

_/ SS…ST…Storrmm…P…P…PLEASE…/ _A mental voice stuttered and echoed at the back of Storm's mind.

'_Tania your still alive, I can feel it…but you're in danger…oh God!'_

Storm used that as an incentive to push harder.

'_Please don't let be too late…'_

Storm steadily began to feel a collective presence growing weaker and the words of an old song swam through her mind…

'_Please don't let it be too late. Mountain help my heart be great…'_

Storm pushed even harder. A wind picked up and was threatening her wings to go 'parachute' on her. Of course, this only served to remind Storm of the bullet hole in her wing, which started to sting.

'_Spirits of the earth and sky…'_

The trees began to part, revealing the edge of the canyon and the rooftops of the station. Storm grew determined. She needed to help Tania, to save her and to get there…she needed to fly.

'_Please help me to fly…'_

She dived off the edge and spread her wings to their full 17-foot span. The warm drafts of air curling up the side of the canyon jerked her and she endured the hot coals radiating waves of pain around the bullet wound but she refused to let it overwhelm her. She saw Tania all alone on the floor being stalked by one of the xenomorphs. Her eyes widened as the black alien raised a clawed hand ready to end her life.

Storm wouldn't have it and folded her wings in slightly to wiz through the air faster like a rocket honed in on its target…

Tania was snatched back into reality when a black blur flashed out of nowhere and barreled full force into the alien towering above her. She turned her head left to see where the alien had gone and her eyes widened when she saw Storm wrestling with it in a heap of heads over wings and a tail.

"Storm?…STORM!" she shouted, relieved but Storm was too immersed in the fight…

oOo

Ray'jin heard the single word vibrate throughout the canyon and through his mind…

'_Storm'_

…_Her name is the very call of nature…_

'_Storm'_

…_The sound of her name hisses and roars in a language we don't understand…_

'_Storm.'_

"_Shur'ie."_

Sarket looked at Ray'jin in bewilderment at what he said. He looked up at the churning clouds above and smelt the smell of ozone and burning metal smoldering the air. He looked back at Ray'jin, _"One is about to strike soon…why are you so alarmed?"_

"_No." _Ray'jin said, _"The winged female's name is Shur'ie. The prophecy, it all makes sense. Look at how she is overpowering that Kiande Amedha. She IS the one!"_

Sarket gaped behind his mask and turned his head to look down at scene unfolding below him.

oOo

Storm threw the alien ahead like a rigid rag doll and it hit the ground, digging its claws into the rocky ground to halt. It dug its back feet claws into the rock and used it launch at Storm. Storm sidestepped and used her telekinetic power to take hold of the alien, swing it around only to bash it into the ground again.

Tania watched in awe as every attack the alien tried to execute backfired with a nasty bash to the head but the alien refused to give up and tried another assault only to have it backfire again.

Tania heard shifting and movement in her peripheral vision and turned her head to see Rafe, still in his Eraser form grin evilly from behind some crates and lift an assault rifle up, pointing it at Storm. Tania looked at Storm, then Rafe then back to Storm and realized with dread that Storm wasn't sensing the probable danger. Rafe was about to shoot her and she didn't even know it. He must know her weakness, but how?

Rafe's finger was starting to squeeze the trigger as Storm delivered the fatal blow to the alien. Tania started to run.

"STORM LOOK OUT!"

Storm whipped around only to be pushed aside by Tania. Gunfire was heard, then all seemed to go silent as Storm saw the pained look in Tania's eyes…

"TANIA NOOO…"

Storm caught Tania's limp body as she fell to the ground. Storm looked down at her chest. There was blood everywhere.

Storm started to tear up, "Don't worry Tan, it's going to be alright. You'll be fine…"

"S…Storm…I feel so cold…" Tania managed to wheeze out.

"Tania can't you heal yourself?" Storm asked in a panicked voice for she could feel Tania's life force slipping.

"I can't…the mortal wound is …too great…"

"Tania…"

"Storm…take my power…"

"I can't…it will kill you…

"Storm…do you…believe in…reincarnation?

"You know I'm not sure about that…"

"Storm…a very long time ago…I saw you in a vision…I came back to help you…"

"You're not making sense."

"… I came back to help you Storm, so Earth wouldn't be destroyed. Don't let the aliens have you…there are other friends in high places-"

Tania coughed up blood.

A tear slipped from Storm's eye, "Tania… I can't loose you…"

"…I'm dying Storm. Take my power, …it's the only way…That way…I will always…be with you…in memory…"

Storm closed her eyes in an attempt to stop the tears from falling further. She could feel her body tingling slightly all over…and the pain in her wing dissipated and the tingling stopped.

She opened her eyes slowly…only to see Tania's calm, pale face and the sound of her heartbeat now only a memory.

Storm felt angry, she felt cheated and felt all alone…

She gently lowered Tania's body to the floor, slowly stood up and looked directly at Rafe who was grinning triumphantly. Storm glared revenge and seethed with pure hatred burning in her eyes.

"You killed her…"

oOo

A/N So…did you enjoy that? …I bet some people just want to yell at me right now for 2 reseans. 1. Tania –cries- and 2. The ever so nasty…cliffhanger! MWUHAHAHAHA!

R+R

-Storm Graveheart

(SR333)

"I have a heart full of pain, head full of stress, handful of anger held in my chest…"


	17. The wrath of Storm

A/N. Hi everyone! Here's another awesome chap for you guys, and I bet everyone has been dying for I'm sure. It's a bit short but it's worth it…I hope. –smiles-

At the moment, I'm feeling a bit depressed because I'm suffering from withdrawal symptoms at the moment…not from catnip…lol…Na…I'm missing my nature brethren. They're taking their sweet time to visit from their vacation in the northern hemisphere…-sniff-

Thanx for the reviews, they are very encouraging, I LOVE em! 'cause now I over 100! YAY! …XD…oh yeah…Jason doesn't scare me! –looks at Raven- You thinking what I'm thinking?

Raven: …XD…yup

Storm and Raven: -both push Jason into a pit crawling with Xeno's

Storm: -looks into pit- Ouch! That's gonna leave a mark!

Raven: -films scene with camera- I think I should send this to reality TV no wait…FEAR FACTOR! …XD

Ok, I'll shut up now…

R+R

oOo

'_Forfeit the game,_

_before somebody else takes you out of the frame,_

_and puts your name to shame, _

_cover up your face, _

_you can't run the race,_

_the pace it too fast, _

_you just won't last…'_

_Song extract from Points Of Authority by Linkinpark._

**The wrath of Storm.**

"You KILLED HER." Storm seethed, now with pure venom dripping from her voice, while the thrum of static charged the air.

"What are you going to do about it freak." Rafe sneered.

"Check the mirror lately, asshole?" Storm retorted

"Oooh…that struck hard…" Rafe chuckled, as he pulled out the controller behind his back, "Face it Storm, you're not in the position to save yourself anymore. That's why the little wench sacrificed herself to save you but it was all for nothing. I know your weakness and it will be the end of you."

"How DARE you dishonour Tania like that. Mark my words, I won't rest till I see you _die_ by my own hands!" Storm countered,

"I'd like to see you try." Rafe growled and swung his arm around revealing the controller. The main button shone brightly, begging to be pressed to reveal just what it could do.

oOo

Ray'jin watched _Shur'ie _defending her fallen comrade's honour and he smiled warmly at this, _'Just like the prophecy claimed. Her heart knows honour. She's even waiting for the s'yuit-de to make the first move so she can fight._' But then he bristled with anger when he noticed the small contraption in the bad blood's paw.

Ray'jin growled. _"Sarket, the time is now. Let's bpi-de this." _hesaid as he started to leap down the side of the rocky cliff.

Sarket had noticed the metal box that hurt _Shur'ie_ before and he pulled out his speargun clipped to his power pack…

oOo

Storm's eyes widened and she immediately tapped into her power. Her eyes glowed once again like two static spheres of electricity and the air around her warped in that famous, impregnable blue field.

Storm launched at Rafe and a loud _'THWACK' _sounded from nowhere. Rafe looked down at his right paw to see the controller gone. When he looked to the floor on his right, he saw the controller pegged into the ground by a long serrated pin. "What the-" Rafe didn't even finish as Storm barreled into him full force. He sprawled backwards and landed on the ground in a furry heap. Storm went for him again and he pulled out the gun, aimed and fired the last few rounds in the magazine. Bullets didn't stop Storm however as she halted, beating her wings so she hovered in the air. She stared ahead at the bullets floating in mid-air, caught in the field surrounding her. Rafe's eyes widened, _'How…? She could never do that before…'_

Storm made each bullet turn over in unison so they pointed at him, "Like to dance?" she hissed and let the bullets fly. Rafe yelped as the bullets hit the ground around his feet.

The drums of thunder rolled across the sky as she strode up to Rafe, ready to castrate the bastard, no, _strangle _him for all the things he did in the past, "I don't know how you managed to figure it out but I won't let _you_ or Dr. Philips have that advantage over me." She telepathically grabbed the gun from Rafe's paws and threw it. The gun wavered through the air and disappeared behind the station. Rafe leaped for the pegged controller. Storm saw this and telepathically pulled the controller from the ground and caught it in her right hand. She glared at Rafe as she crushed it and let the mangled sparking twists of metal and wiring fall to the ground.

Rafe roared and lunged at Storm, swinging a meaty fist in blind fury. His teeth flashed in the light of a blazing fork of lightning tearing through the sky.

Storm was prepared though and held her right arm in a halt fashion, "Stop right there!" and true to her abilities, Rafe literally halted in mid-air. He swung his fists, growled, snarled and thrashed around. Rafe's eyes were ablaze with animal eye shine and Storm confronted them with her own icy glare.

She smirked.

Rafe roared, "YOU WOULDN'T BE SO TOUGH WITHOUT THAT POWER! LET ME GO AND FIGHT ME PROPERLY!"

"I'm not dumb, you think I was born yesterday to fall for that lame old trick! You know as well as I do that you own the lion share when it comes to brute strength- AAAAHH!"

Storm clutched at her skull to ease the headache as she staggered backwards. The sudden lack in concentration caused Rafe to drop to the floor. He grinned in a toothy fashion and lunged at Storm. He barreled into her and Storm hit the ground hard with Rafe on top of her.

Punch after punch, his fists grinded into her abdomen and Storm looked ready to be sick from all the wind knocked out of her. Storm brought her right fist up to strike Rafe in the jaw but it was an unfocused hit.

Ray'jin made it to the ground and Sarket caught up with him. They settled on the rooftops of one of the ooman buildings watching over the fight.

Sarket clicked as he watched the winged ooman get punched in the gut, _"I gather we can't interfere." _

"_This is her fight," _Ray'jin rattled, _"she needs to do this."_ then he grinned when the bad blood received a fist in the jaw…

Rafe roared and pinned Storm's arms, "You little bitch! I'll tear your throat out for that!" and he opened his jaws.

"Over my DEAD BODY!" Storm screamed as she curled her legs up beneath him and pushed both physically and mentally, sending Rafe careening into the near face of the Cliffside as the planet itself repeatedly quaked under the might of thunder.

Rafe felt the sickening introduction of bone to rock and then nearly nothing at all as he fell to the ground weakly.

"I wish that bitch would stay out of my head!" Storm yelled as she got up and, lack of a better word, stormed up to Rafe's weakened form, "This is for taking everything away from me…" and she kicked him hard in the ribs and he yelped. She grabbed him from the scruff of his neck, "This is for _Tania_…" and Rafe found himself sailing in an ark over her head and hitting the ground again…hard. Storm was relentless and hauled him up again and gave him a death glare. If looks could kill, he'd be ash by now.

"I owe you Rafe..." Storm hissed, "…with interest. This is for _you_…" Storm eyed some steel reinforcing beams that were commonly used in architecture to support a building's foundations, poking out of the rubble and debris of a collapsed building. Judging by the scorch marks, Storm figured that the building collapsed from an explosion. She looked back at Rafe, "This is for making whatever life I had a living _hell!_"

"I'll see you there." Rafe managed to mutter under his breath.

"Losers first." Storm retorted and slammed Rafe down on the steel beams. He howled his plight to the universe but the only answer he got was the crescendo of thunder chanting his demise.

Storm looked at the one steel bar jutting out of Rafe's stomach, "You know what Rafe? You're not even worth the mercy of a swift one…" Storm had to use all her strength to bend the tip of the bar over so Rafe would be stuck there and he howled pitifully when the bar twitched in his gut, "You've heard of the old saying; What goes around, comes around. Just like you made me suffer back on Earth, now you will suffer and die _painfully_ and _slowly_ and all _alone. _I'm sure that hell has a special hole to accommodate the likes of you."

Storm turned her head to look at Tania's limp form on the ground, _'Tania…' _Storm closed her eyes tightly and fought hard to keep fresh tears from spilling as the reality of the situation dawned on her once again. "You were the best friend I ever had…" she whispered, "but why did you have to do that? Now I have nothing left…I'm all…alone…" Storm nearly choked on the ball of pain that felt like an urchin lodged in her throat.

Then it happened…

For the first time since the fight, the adrenalin pulsing through her veins faded momentarily and she became aware of her surroundings…

…and felt a presence behind her…

Storm didn't move. Something about this presence was different and yet felt somewhat…familiar. She moved her head slightly in the figure's direction but still couldn't see whatever it was.

"_Shur'ie?" _said a gruff voice…

oOo

…

…

…

-huge stupid grin-…ehehe… -Poof-

§****-Storm

(SR333)

"Tremble in my wake…"


	18. Intermission

A/N ALLLLOOOOOWW again! SO SORRY I took forever to write this chapter. I was seriously distracted by DBZ –coughs- So… I dedicated this day to finishing it!

And I have some interesting news! One of my faithful reviewers, Zillah 91 has told me that there is a Japanese Thunder god by the name of Raijin (thanx for the info despite how much I cringed) I assure everyone that it was PURELY coincidence for I had absolutely NO IDEA! Until a few weeks back. I do things like that sometimes and yes…it does sometimes freak me out. I still think it's strange that Ray'jin has met Storm now…really freaky coincidence… -sweatdrop-

**Reindeer sausage. **Thank you SO much for the review. It kicked me back in gear! –smiles-

See…reviews work magic!

So…

R+R

oOo

**Intermission.**

Storm slowly turned to face the owner of the voice only for her eyes to focus on an over seven foot tall humanoid being clad in some kind of metallic dark blue metal armour. Muscles large enough to probably wrestle a bull down to the floor, not to mention the mesh suit under all that armour, it looked as if it barely contained his bulging muscles.

Her eyes traveled up to rest on the aerodynamically designed pewter mask with its joined, elongated dark eyepieces staring right back. They held no emotion and were shrouded with long black dreadlocks decorated with silver clips. He seemed capable of striking fear into the hearts of anyone unfortunate to cross his path, but the most prominent feature of his attire was the fact that he was literally dressed to kill. He was so stocked with uniquely crafted blades that they grinned their sharp edges in the light of lightning.

Storm felt the air of another presence and looked up past the figure standing before her up at the roof of one of the buildings. Storm could just make out a warped transparent figure hunched on the rooftop.

Storm suddenly looked up at the turbulent sky to see another jagged fork of lightning tear through the pregnant clouds so they at last gave birth to rain. She looked back at the figure, panting slightly from the fight with Rafe. The figure on the roof materialized into view in a crackle of blue sparks and leapt down to stand by his companion.

The one in blue armour stepped forward, rattling softly.

Storm took a step back, keeping a wary eye out for any sudden movements. Her wings unfurled slightly, _'Oh great…as if this planet isn't freaky already. Now there are these… 'alien ninjas' by the looks of things, I gather that with all those fancy blades they probably have shurikens on them…' _at that thought, Storm caught sight of the disk hanging over his right thigh, _'…I just HAD to ask…' _she thought sarcastically.

He stopped his advancing and held out his clawed hand, _"Shur'ie."_

Storm nearly gawked at him and blinked to keep the rainwater out of her eyes, _'Ok…what is the deal here? Why does he keep calling me that? How come the feeling about him is neutral, he looks like he could dice me with a flick of his wrist. Gee…why does he look…familiar…?'_

_FLASHBACK…_

_I was with Tania, keeping low so we could read the minds of the sector 6 scientists so we could find out if they knew anything that was going on in sector 8…_

_/Anything/ I asked Tania_

_/Not anything interesting. You/_

_/ Hmm…sector 7 is making plans to start over. Nothing on sector 8. /_

_/Why don't they just give up already with the Xeno's. It will just fail again. /_

_That was when I caught the stray thoughts of this one sector 6 scientist, making his way to sector 6…_

'…_Predator who hunts the Xenomorphs and humans for their skulls, probably as trophies. Superior advancements in technology in wrist guards…Master crafted bladed weapons, plasma mounted shoulder cannon…Ah, here's a picture…hmm…wonder why they hide their faces behind those masks…'_

_END FLASHBACK…_

'_Predator…' …_ "Shit." Storm thought in dread but clamped her mouth shut when she realized she said 'Shit' out loud.

The Predator chuckled slightly and started to advance again, "No Storm, _Shur'ie_ is your name in my language."

This time, Storm's jaw nearly hit the floor, "You…just spoke English!…and how the hell do you know my name?" she said almost squeaking.

Rafe, unfortunately, was still barely alive and became aware of the situation. He noticed the Predators bearing down on Storm. He tried to chuckle but couldn't, as the bar through his gut hurt too much. He was beside himself, "Ha…so you end up being hunted…by these freaks. At least I'll go…with pleasant thoughts in mind."

The Predator growled and threw his spear, which impaled Rafe right through the underside of his jaw. Evidently, he had had enough of him.

If Storm were an amine character, she would have visibly sweat dropped.

He stopped about two meters away from her and bowed his head slightly, "You must realize that I intend you no harm despite the stories you have heard. The story behind this meeting is a long one and I hope you come to understand in time. How I know your name is I overheard your friend try to warn you before…" He motioned his head at Rafe, "…this…_s'yuit-de…_tried to kill you dishonourably."

Storm blinked blankly then lowered her head at the slightest reference of Tania and felt the pain of loss once more.

He closed the gap before Storm realized it and placed his hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. Storm looked up dumfounded. Here, stood before her, was a killing machine that was filled to the brim with nothing but pleasant motives. She didn't know what to make of it.

"My name is _Ray'jin_ and this is my good friend _Sarket._" Ray'jin said, "It is an honour to have finally found you at long last."

Storm attempted to say his name in the right manner, "Rrrray…jin?"…_ 'Wait a sec…found me…' _she raised a brow.

Ray'jin trilled at Storm for saying his name correctly the first time and he nodded.

Storm moved her head to look past his right arm at the other bronze armoured Predator behind him tapping at some devise on his arm then looked back at Ray'jin. She relaxed and folded her wings tightly against her back again, "Er…What…do you mean…'found me'?"

Ray'jin rattled, "As I said, It's a long story…"

Storm was looking at Tania's lifeless body again and she slowly walked up to her. Storm kneeled down and moved Tania's hands to lay across her still chest. Storm used a finger to move a lock of Tania's white hair out of her angelic face. Right now…words didn't seem right.

Ray'jin walked up behind Storm and placed his hand over her shoulder and she tensed, " She gave her life to save yours. That is the greatest honour one could ever achieve. That act transformed her into an immortal being, and she will live for eternity among us. You are not alone. Remember that."

Ray'jin removed his hand and turned to Sarket, _"Have you contacted Elder Dærensé?"_

Sarket nodded, _"Yes, he's bringing the ship in now."_

Storm looked up at them and frowned in confusion at the clicks and growls they were exchanging between each other.

Suddenly a rumbling bellow was heard and the ground caved in. Or seemed that way as the flat ground of the station split open gradually and whatever rubble lying on the surface fell into the widening hole when the lids got too small to accommodate anything.

A ship, much smaller than the Verloc, rose up out of the hanger and into the air. It wavered slightly as it rose higher.

Storm gasped as she looked up at the ship. Ray'jin and Sarket both rumbled and looked back and forth at Storm and the ship, but Ray'jin could clearly see that Storm knew nothing of this.

"I thought everyone was dead." Storm said in a small voice. _'Who could possibly be flying that?' _Storm reached her mind out to find a sole mind tormented before going black. There were only two explanations for that. One, The pilot somehow died or two, the person somehow managed to block her. The latter proved to be the more logical explanation when the ship took a sidelong nosedive and crashed.

Storm blinked before taking off to find out just who was in the cockpit. She grappled with the door to find it locked. She cursed silently and looked around for something to use like a crowbar. She found a short piece of a metal bar and wedged it into the seal by the locking mechanism and pushed down with all her might. The lock proved to be resilient and the effort bent the bar instead.

Storm cursed, now aware that the predators must be wondering what she was up to and she was getting nowhere so she found her way up the cockpit windows to try and peer inside.

It was getting far to dark to see anything with the storm above and the rain pattering on the glass. All she could make out was shadows flickering whenever lightening struck. Storm heard rattling behind her and looked to see the predator, _Ray'jin _standing beside her. He nodded and lifted up his shuriken. Storm immediately moved aside to give him room and he rammed the disk into the glass. The disk hummed as it sliced through the glass like a hot knife through butter as he cut a large hole into the glass. Storm tapped into her power and focused on the cut part of the glass and pulled it up and placed it aside. She was surprised at how thick the glass was, but it would make sense if the ship was meant to go into space…

Storm peered inside and noticed that everything was too quiet. Ray'jin hadn't said anything, or even commented, but she caught the feel of his aura and it felt…impressed? Storm blushed slightly and quickly snapped her view to the interior of the ship to hide her slightly pink cheeks, _'Oh God…I pray he didn't see that 'cause that would be…like…digging my own grave for sure…'_

Storm desperately wanted to find something worthwhile to distract her mind when she noticed this funny liquid with a faint white luminescence spattered across the floor of the cockpit as well as a body. Storm frowned in confusion, "Huh?…" Storm didn't like the look of this. She scanned the dark corners of the cockpit to find no hidden surprises, so she reached in, grabbed a limb and hauled the body closer to the window to have a closer look and so she wasn't so vulnerable.

Storm gasped when she saw the face identifying Dr. Philips. Then she looked down at his torn up chest and limbs to see the same white liquid everywhere. There was not a trace of crimson blood anywhere.

Ray'jin growled, "I've seen this before.

Storm looked up at him questioningly.

Ray'jin continued, "Artificial Ooman. I think I heard on my previous hunt that they were called…synthetics."

Storm's eyes shrank with horror then narrowed with anger, "I can't believe it. That asshole is STILL alive back on Earth, I know it!" Storm was hopping mad now and one would swear that they could see steam coming from her ears. The raging war in the sky reflected it.

Ray'jin shrank back slightly from the little female's show of rage. He could see that she was ready to erupt but she kept it in check and bottled up. Fortunately, there were going to be no innocent bystanders from this crossfire. But he had to try something to stray her train of thought before she did something she'd regret. " Who is this Doctor Philips?" Ray'jin asked.

Storm looked at him blankly, and then frowned, " He's the profane bastard that messed with my DNA and made me the way I am. He never appreciated anything that I did. I always tried so hard to make him happy so he wouldn't hurt me, but noooo…He always shunned me, abused me and kept me locked up in a small cage. Him and that low level scum Eraser." She seethed, pointing at Rafe's mangled corpse.

Ray'jin looked at the body impaled on the metal bar, _'Eraser? So that's what they're called.' _He looked back at Storm only to see the pained look in her eyes. He nearly recoiled. He didn't realize how bad her past was. He wanted to learn more about it, help relieve the burden she had to carry on her own. She could count on it.

oOo

_**(My youngling, return to the hive at once. We'll have the advantage here.)**_

_/Yes my queen / _The alien warrior responded and perched in front of the side door waiting for the right moment to escape.

oOo

Ray'jin was distracted by the sound of buckling metal and looked to the side to see Sarket messing with the lock of the door. Storm scrambled over the ship's nose to see what he was doing. Sarket took out his spear and rammed the tip into the lock.

Storm frowned slightly…something…just didn't feel right.

Sarket twisted the spear and the lock popped. The door swung outward along with a leaping Xenomorph.

Sarket leaped back in surprise for he was temporarily unarmed as his spear was still sticking out the lock.

The Xeno darted around him, ignoring him completely and making off for the jungle at top speed and was gone before either Predator could get a lock on with his shoulder cannon.

"_C'jit!" _Sarket growled as he pulled out his spear and turned to face the jungle.

"_Leave it for now Sarket. We'll handle it when the time is right." _Ray'jin clicked. _"The ship has arrived."_

Storm slid off the side of the ground and looked up at the looming ship silhouetted against the stormy sky. She gaped at the size of it and gulped.

Ray'jin placed his hand on her shoulder as the ship touched down silently in short bursts of steam and the main door began to slowly…open…

oOo

A/N –gulps- …ummm…bye. –Poof- …XD

§ -Storm

(SR333)

" I can't think of a thing to say…" –from movie: Seed of Chucky. (freaky movie that)


	19. Through the eyes of a storm

A/N: Storm: -gasps- AH! I haven't updated in over a month! Sorry for keeping you guys waiting. I'm seriously distracted by DBZ. I got purple highlights in my hair and I've discovered the glory of Creed and Nightwish (I absolutely love the music vid for Nemo by Nightwish, it rocks!)

Raven: Alright! Enough chitter chatter. We've got reviews to reply to!

Storm: Oh yeah….-grapples for list- uhhhh…okay, here it is. First up…

**Zillah 91 **Next chapter coming up!

**Aquamum **Yes, die die DIE! and uhhh…-goes red-

Raven: Storm, are you…_blushing?_

Storm: -eye twitches- …

Raven: ok…I'll be quiet!

**Dawley **Thanks hey. And yes, Dr Philips is a spineless, good for nothing SOB! –looks at audience- erm…I'm calm.

**M1dn1te999 **–eyes twitches and goes after Merla- GET BACK HERE!

**Oak tree woman **lol! I already read it! Now I'm dieing to read the second: School's Out…XD You should find the separate prequel novels: When The Wind Blows and The Lake House. Same author, awesome reads!

**Minkutei** Need help out of there?

Sara 'Devilchu' Oh! Lots of questions! Well …we'll just have to wait and see. I think chap. 18 sealed the idea for a sequel yes? …XD –flies away from excited crowd- 

**Reindeer sausage **–poof- I'm back!

**Vampiric Amaya666 **AAAH! Don't stalk me! I wanna keep my blood! MY BLOOD! Oh, MN gave me your number, Thanx. Now I've got to put money in my phone…BLAH!

Storm: Now without further ado, I give you the next chapter! Enjoy it while you can. It was a hard one to write. 4735 words and it holds my longest chapter title!

Raven: -whistles- Don't forget to R&R!

oOo

**Through the eyes of a storm.**

…_Storm's POV… (A/N: What did you expect! –points at heading-)_

I feel Ray'jin place his hand on my shoulder and I nearly tensed. Who wouldn't if they knew they were standing beside a killing machine that also happens to be an extraterrestrial. Ya…serious lack of mutual trust their on my part. I watch with dread as the door slowly exhales misty wisps of white smoke until it finally touches the ground. _Shit…double shit…triple shit…I'm DEAD. _I notice Ray 'jin purring and I look up at him. I still can't get over how tall he is. He motions his hand in an inviting manner towards the door of the ship. Normally I would've have thought, 'Gosh…what a gentleman.' with sarcasm but here on I just think _Great…that feels VERY encouraging _and I look on at the door which seems to represent the gates of hell. Ray'jin takes his hand from my shoulder, pulls out his spear from Rafe's body and make his way up the ramp with his friend. I gulp before picking up Tania's body and nervously follow them.

From now on I couldn't help myself and I could feel my eyes go ablaze as I looked around in alarm at the interior of the ship, expecting freaky forms of technology to pounce on me but here's the thing. None came. I heard Ray'jin say something in his home language at Sarket and he came and took Tania from my arms and walked to another side of the ship and placed her on some table with flickering red lights running down the sides. I was grateful and felt relieved for the moment until I heard a rumbling bang behind me and realized that the door had shut tight. I then became aware of this sinking feeling and realized that the ship must already be in the air.

I paled.

_Ok Storm, just…get a grip on yourself, if they wanted to kill you, they would have done so a looooong time ago. Wait a sec…what if they want to take me apart to see how my insides work…what if this is all just a trick…eep! Then again…why was Ray'jin being so…nice to me earlier? And I still don't know what he meant by 'found me' UGH! Screw this shit, I'll just have to go with the flow and if it comes to death, I certainly won't go down without a fight they can count on that!_

I realized I was smirking to my own thoughts and quickly put my poker face on. There's still no bad vibes so I allow myself to calm down and decide to examine the intricate patterns on the walls. It was quite amazing. The craftsmanship must've taken hours.

I heard a hiss and turned to see another door opening. My eyes widened for what happened next was not what I was expecting. Another Predator wearing a purple cape clad in black armour decorated with chains of small bones and teeth, walked into the orange-lit room that I was standing in with Ray'jin and Sarket. He was tall, his skin was light green mottled with brown speckling, old looking, for his dreads were ash coloured with silver clips and oh my GOD his face! Well…after the day I've been through…I guess it doesn't really matter now…I think I've finally gone numb. Heck, I've seen worse in the lab back on Earth, but I felt sorry for those that went through those horrible treatments. They didn't deserve it…

I felt a claw under my chin, I hadn't realized that I had lowered my head in remembrance of my in-mates. I allowed my view to find the red eyes of the beholder and looked into the face of the older Predator. His upper mandibles lifted slightly. Was he…_smiling?_

"_Shur'ie." _His voice was low and guttural as it floated to my ears. Every muscle in my body hardened and my lungs turned to concrete. I just couldn't help feeling like a little dove among cats now. Wait…what was that in his eyes?

He nodded his head slightly, lowered his clawed hand, and turned his head in Ray'jin's direction rattling. I followed his gaze and met the mask lenses where Ray'jin's eyes would be. For the first time I noticed this mark etched into the forehead of his mask. It looked a bit like a lightning bolt leaning to the right with the top curved to the left. Actually, now that I think about it, it kind of looks like a fancy '3'. I soon had enough of feeling left in the dark and extended my senses. The only intent that existed were either feelings of content, concern over some other matter, pride and admiration…whoa…wait a second…_admiration! _I frowned slightly in thought. _What is going on here? _

Ray'jin lifted his clawed hands to his mask and started to pull the tubes attached to his mask. It didn't take a rocket scientist to guess what he was doing and slowly but surely, he removed his mask completely. Well I must say, to be perfectly honest, he is way better looking than the older predator in front of me. He spoke to me and introduced the older predator, "This is Elder Dærensé, one of the great yautja leaders of the…" He lifted his mandibles in an unmistakable grin, "Thunder Clan."

I cocked my head to the side and smiled at the irony. Just what in the galaxy did I do to deserve this. I felt Elder Deerrrensay- Er…whatever's eyes on me again. Now I didn't know what to do with myself so I just acted on impulse and copied his earlier gesture and bowed my head. The Elder nodded once before turning to, presumably, the control room of the ship.

I felt my wings slack. Was that it?

Ray'jin chuckled, "I've assured you before. We're not going to hurt you Storm. If anything, you should be happy to be here among us. Here, you're safe."

I sighed and looked up at Ray'jin, "Really?" I asked in a defeated tone.

He smiled warmly. I could see it in his amber eyes. In fact, that 'glint' in his eyes is starting to unnerve me now…

"Yes." He assured. "Come. There are things to discuss and prepare for… "

I was examining the ragged feathers of my right wing for the rain had made that alien goop like a tacky viscid fluid on my feathers. _God, this is going to take ages to get out._

"Storm?"

I looked up and tried to look innocent. I guess I spaced out again. My bad.

He lifted his mandibles into that unmistakable smile and beckoned me to follow him. "Come." He started. "I bet that you want to get yourself cleaned up."

I started feeling really uneasy at his hospitality. I could see it from a mile off. I'm not used to that kind of treatment. I looked down at myself. My God, I was a mess! Well…there goes my favourite clothes. I swallowed the lump in my throat and mentally kicked myself in the heel to start following him before I looked like an idiot.

Ray'jin lead me through a series of corridors that housed many metal doors. We past a larger door, something about this door held a sort of a …dark air to it.

"That's the Trophy Room." I heard Ray'jin say.

The word 'trophy' made me remember the flashback I had earlier and I mentally sweat dropped. It didn't take much brains to know what _kind _of _trophies _decorated that room.

I steeled myself away from the door and followed Ray'jin until he stopped moments later at another metal door. He placed his clawed hand on a panel on the wall and the door hissed apart to reveal…_his bedroom!_

_Oh hell, why can't a Black Hole just swallow me up right now and put me out of my misery…_

My eyes roved along the walls at his arsenal of weapons lining them. I nearly ogled at the fancy swords and daggers until my eyes eventually came to rest on the…very…large…bed covered in beautiful furs. I mentally sweat dropped again and I felt my eye twitch.

_Black Hole…_

"Are you alright?"

I snapped out of my reverie again and blinked at him, "Er…yeah." I countered, "I uhh…like your daggers."

He left the 'wardrobe' and approached me with some black fur garments in his hands. "Thank you. I crafted them myself." He said with pride.

"Wow." I answered with awe

He made a clicking sound that caught my attention and he handed the garments to me and motioned his clawed hand at an adjacent metal door. "You can cleanse yourself in there. Everything you need is in there as well."

I entered the bathroom and warily looked around for any 'hidden surprises' but found none.

"I will be back shortly." He said and left the room.

I sighed heavily with pure relief. That was the weirdest fifteen minutes of my life. I placed the garments on a stool. Found a clean towel…which I might add was capital 'H' Huge! I think it was as big as a bed sheet!

_Cool._

I figured out how the 'taps' worked in the shower and soon I had warm water gushing out of the showerhead. Thank God it's not made from a skull…

I realized with horror that the door to the bathroom didn't have a lock. _God, Pleeeeeaase don't have him boldly burst in on my parade or I will surely die! _I prayed with all the faith I had and peeled off my ruined clothes, keeping a hawk's eye on the door. I wrestled a bit to get my wings through the slits at the back of my top but I eventually won that battle and phased into the shower I jumped in it so fast. I sighed again and grabbed the soap. I studied the bottle, which smelled like some sort of fruit, but I was so paranoid that I plucked a small feather, _ow! _And put a bit of the soap to test that it wouldn't dissolve it. Okay…it's safe and lathered up, paying special attention to my hair and wings. Man, it's going to be a bitch to get the back but there is no ways I'm calling for assistance. I'll just have to hope that the warm water will get that, it's not that bad.

About fifteen minutes later I eventually got all of the alien gunk off my feathers to my standards, rinsed off, switched off the water and peeked around at the door before making a grab for the oversized towel. I stepped out before making sure everything was back in order and looked at the door once again. _Okay…no barge-in's…yet._

I pressed the water out of my wings and hair and took a look at the garments. I absolutely loved the feel of them. It felt like rabbit fur and it took me another five minutes to figure the lot out but I eventually got myself fully dressed while still keeping an eye on the door.

When I felt at ease, I took a look at myself. The top was like a halter neck with silver studs and a low-cut back. I think Ray'jin chose it with my 'unique' anatomy in mind. The knee length skirt resembled black leather with some sort of under garment. In fact, now that I think about it, the outfit sort of reminded me of something I read about called Xena: Warrior princess. Then again, would you expect anything less?

My sensitive ears picked up the telltale sound of heavy footsteps coming my way. I squeaked and rushed about like a mad thing to make sure everything was just as I found it, then scooped up my ruined clothes from the floor and casually walked to the bathroom door. I heard the outer door swish open before my door did and I looked at Ray'jin with another innocent look.

"Ah…I feel human again…well…sort of." I started with a smile, remembering my excuse for a heritage.

He smiled again at my attempt to 'lighten up' and I looked down at my old clothes in my arms, "I guess these are good for being cremated. Thank you." I said gratefully.

He gave me a side –long glance and nodded with that cute smile in his eyes before sitting down on the edge of his bed- _Oh dear GOD, What am I thinking!_

"I brought some food which I think you might enjoy." He said revealing the tray before me. I hadn't noticed it until now and already my eyes were scanning the selection of fruits, nuts and dried meat strips.

"You can place those in there." He said, referring to some 'bin' like thing and I complied without question.

"Are your wings hurt?"

I turned around to acknowledge him directly and looked over my shoulders to see my wings hung open a bit and then it dawned on me, "Oh no…I'm just keeping them open a bit so that they can dry. Normally I would be flapping them but that would work up a hurricane…no pun intended." I added before working up enough guts to sit down on the floor beside him. There was no way in hell that **_I_**was going to sit on the bed. Besides…this way I get a back prop.

"Now why are you down there?"

I looked up at him, "Believe it but this is quite comfy." I said and looked at the tray and hesitated, letting instinct act before picking up two nuts and crushed them, making them break each other in my right fist.

Ray'jin spoke again, "I think those will give you terrible cramps."

I automatically shrugged, "It's fine really. I just have a feeling it won't." I said matter-of-factly and popped the soft middle into my mouth. I was surprised that it tasted just like hazelnuts. Only creamier! _Mmmm_

I then felt a hand on my right wing and looked to see Ray'jin studying it closely. He looked at me again, "Forgive me." He started, "I'm just curious as to how this can be."

I swallowed and smiled. I didn't blame him for feeling that way. Soon logic took over my thoughts _Hmmm…maybe it won't be so bad if I told him more about myself. I'm most likely going to be here for a long time and perhaps they'll need to be able to help me if the time ever arrives. _"I'm ninety eight percent human. The other two percent is avian."

"Avian?"

I nodded, "Yes, avian. They're small winged creatures known as birds in which there are thousands of different kinds that live allover Earth. The two percent that was graphed into my DNA was from a Raven with some of the alleles changed with those from a raptor. Also known as an eagle in which there are also different kinds, but I'm not sure which one was used."

"I see. But I wonder how you are able to control objects with your mind." He said in wonder.

"Like this." I stated and used my power to make another nut hover off the tray. He chattered in surprise as he stared wide-eyed at the nut floating above the tray with no other form of physical assistance. Like it had a mind of its own. I giggled at his expression and let the nut be taken in his hand. He still stared at it in wonder before looking at me again. "This may sound strange but…can you control the weather?"

I blinked at him. That question just reminded me of the mutant known as Storm in X-men who had such powers to manipulate the forces of nature. I shook my head, "No…but it does seem that when I get mad a storm blows up." I gave my innocent expression once again and got myself comfortable and moved my wings forward so they cupped my sides. I enjoyed a brief moment of peace and sighed all my worries away in one breath. Feeling as calm as the eye of the storm itself and decided it was my turn to ask some questions. "Can I ask you something?" I said looking up at him again.

Ray'jin looked down at me and nodded, "Yes, of course."

"Well…" I started, "I'm still confused as to why you said that you found me?"

Ray'jin proceeded to tell me of this prophecy. I was wide eyed and my mind raced about in circles with this new information. _Little girl who could _**_heal wounds right before your eyes! _**_As well as see into the future! No ways. But wait…that reminds me of…oh my god…_

_FLASH BACKS…_

"_Tania can't you heal yourself?" I asked in a panicked voice for I could feel Tania's life force slipping._

"_I can't…the mortal wound is …too great…"_

"_Tania…"_

"_Storm…take my power…"_

"_I can't…it will kill you…"_

"_Storm…do you…believe in…reincarnation?"_

"_You know I'm not sure about that…"_

"_Storm…a very long time ago…I saw you in a vision…I came back to help you…"_

"_You're not making sense."_

"… _I came back to help you Storm, so Earth wouldn't be destroyed. Don't let the aliens have you…there are other friends in high places-"_

_Tania coughed up blood._

_A tear slipped from my eye, "Tania… I can't lose you…"_

"…_I'm dying Storm. Take my power, …it's the only way…That way…I will always…be with you…in memory…"_

_-xXx-_

"… _but nooo, he didn't want to arouse suspicion back at the abandoned station, all because he wants to get a new breed of Xenomorph from you."_

_My eyes snapped open, 'WHAT! Oh there is no way I'm going through with this laying down and having that…thing…burst out of my chest. FORGET IT!'_

"…_with the hope of that acid resistant control chip in your chest cavity, he is sure that the embryo will incorporate it in its mind. He believes that it will be the best way to control them. The perfect biological warfare weapon. One that will finally listen and not go rebellious like you did. If you could hear me Storm, wouldn't you agree?"_

'_Oh god…not the 'taking-control-of –the-Xenomorphs' thing AGAIN! That's really starting to get old. That tears it. I'd rather be anywhere else than in your filthy clutches…' _

_-xXx-_

_/No… /_

_**(Farewell for now child. My chosen youngling will be ready soon. Your power will be mine…)**_

_With those last words, the Queen seemed to vaporize into millions of tiny glowing bubbles that faded into darkness._

_END FLASHBACKS…_

There was no denying it. The prophecy practically spelt it out for me. I looked up at Ray'jin again. He was studying me closely. My lips parted, "Tania." I whispered, "Tania was the little girl."

Ray'jin looked skeptical, "How can that be if the prophecy was made thousands of years ago?"

I shrugged, "Who knows. Were you there when Tania died."

"Yes."

"So you heard what she said. That she saw me a long time ago. That she came back to help me. That the aliens mustn't have me. That there were other friends in high places."

Ray'jin lowered his head slightly in thought, "Now that you mention it…"

The puzzle pieces were falling in place of their own accord in my mind, "This is beyond weird but it makes sense. Even the alien Queen wanted my power for her own by wanting to make me one of them. I refused, naturally, but I knew that couldn't happen. You see, it turns out I have another control chip in my chest cavity. If I were impregnated, Dr. Philips would control the hybrid. Just imagine if he took it back to Earth. Imagine if it transformed into a Queen and laid eggs…all those people… That would explain the darkness that would overwhelm the planet!"

Ray'jin stared at me wide eyed as his mandibles slacked in his version of a gape, "You were in a _Kainde Amedha _hive!How the _pauk _did you manage to escape the Queen!"

Whoops, too much info and I replied with a dark smirk. Strangely he accepted it and we spent a moment of silence, eating our fill. Damn was I hungry. That 'little' burst of action earlier drained me completely. Flying took a lot of energy. Something strange had started to happen as well. I could feel a warmth in my veins that seemed to fill the dark gorge in my heart where I thought I had lost Tania. The strangest part was that the warmth _felt _like Tania and it made me feel like I wasn't alone. I puzzled over it for a moment and recalled her words _"I will always be with you in memory." _

I decided to ask another question. "What are your kind like? Your interests and values. What you live by…" I trailed off, trying to think up other characteristics.

Ray'jin smiled, "We are Yautja."

"Ya-oucha?"

"Close enough. We are great hunters. We love to travel the stars for the ultimate challenge of battle, hunting for prey. We train most of the time as well. Honour is the law and we value that greatly. If any so much as commit a dishonourable act, they can loose all the honour they have or be sentenced to death. Most Yautja who have lost their honour, throw themselves on their own blade so they can die an honourable death in hopes that the Black Warrior will take care of their souls."

"Sounds tough. Guess I need an insight on the Do's and Don'ts of your culture if I want to keep my head on my shoulders."

"We'll have time for that later but I must know one thing. You hold a deep mystery about you. Like deep water, dark and turbulent yet so peaceful. You only retaliate when someone has offended you or someone else you hold dear. Like your friend. Their was great honour in that. You even tried to protect her before from the Kainde Amedha. Oomans in general aren't really like that. Not like you. I guess that…I just want to know about your past."

I stared at him in awe at his analogies. He was hitting the nail on the head all the time. True, I only retaliate when someone has hurt me, only because they bring it upon themselves. Anyone who keeps shooting me in the back for no good reason and I come down on them like a ton of bricks. Rafe especially was a good example. I never did anything in my whole life to provoke him but he kept pushing and pushing until he pushed too far and I dished it back to him in one blow. Then he had the gal to imply that I was a bitch all because I was being so violent all of a sudden…pah. I hope hell is 'rejoicing' with their new arrival. The asshole deserves everything Hell has to offer. I then suddenly felt happy that Ray'jin sees honour in me already. At least that's a good start…but my past? There's no way I can just tell him. I'll have to show him, and the only way I can do that is…I have to touch him.

I noticed him staring me down, waiting patiently for me to answer. I mentally sweat dropped. Well, I better do it quick before he bites my head off!

I sighed and slowly stood up and sat on the bed beside him.

_Black Hole…_

He lost his hard look but didn't object.

"It's hard to put into words but I can show you." I admitted

"How can you show me something that happened years ago!" He nearly blurted out in surprise.

I pointed my forefinger to my forehead and smiled.

He blinked, nearly wide-eyed, as his brain seemed to process the information.

"I'll have to place my hand on your forehead." I explained. "This way, it'll be easier to see what I went through."

He straightened his back and studied me for a brief moment. Then he slowly nodded his head.

I bit my lower lip as I gingerly moved my hand to place it above his brow. My sensitive skin made contact with his prickly brow and I admit that I half expected him to open his mandibles and cleave my arm in two but he didn't. I slowly nodded once, feeling my eyes glow from the familiar feel of my power flowing in my blood. I stared into his amber eyes before closing my own. I just hope I'm prepared to relive this…

Soon my life resurfaced out of the misty depths of my reverie…

_FLASH BACK…_

_I sat staring through the bars of my small one-meter squared cage at the whitecoats walking past ignoring me completely, seemingly engrossed with their clipboards. All empty, heartless vessels on remote control. None throwing a caring look my way. /What have I done? Why are they treating me like this/ _

"_You okay Storm?" a voice asked._

_My vision panned left to find a girl with long white hair and red eyes. Tania. I felt myself nod. I see her try to smile, but she knew I was lying. My back was killing me from being in this cramped cage. I didn't sleep well. I stuck my fingers through the cage bars to Tania. She did the same. We can hear heavy footsteps now coming closer. My heart beat faster and thundered in my eardrums. Rafe._

_Rafe rounded the corner with dark glee and rattled our cages before hoisting us both on a pully and carted us outside._

_We stopped and Rafe hauled me out the cage. I hung limply in his paws as he taunted me with his teeth. I feel so weak. They didn't feed us…_

_Rafe threw me across the floor before brandishing a shock staff. I heard Tania scream for me. She was still in her cage. Her fingers were curled around the bars. Tears streaming down her face._

_Rafe stalked up to her and poked the shock staff through the bars. Tania screamed from each electric shock. _

_Rafe stopped and stalked up to me again as I tried to pick myself off the floor. I would've tried to fly but it was forbidden. "You fly, you die" they said. Rafe kicked me in the ribs. He stabbed me with the staff and I cried out from the pain. "You like that." He hollered with, malice. "Pathetic that someone with that name can get shocked." He said stating the obvious._

_It went on like this for days in brief flashes._

_Then I snapped back and shoved Rafe back a couple of yards. I should never have done that. The clouds grew dark and I heard the distant rumble of thunder. They threw me in a thick glass cage for further tests. My power couldn't breach the glass and Rafe beat me further for being a bad girl. _

_Days of stormy weather passed and I endured horrible tests. Dr Philips and other whitecoats performed blood and bone tests and studied the different effects of drugs. I felt so sick and broken. Tania helped to heal me if it was really bad. My power is growing but I'm afraid to show it. If they're doing this to me now, what will happen if I defend myself again? They might terminate me in fear I get out of control, oh man._

_/What have I done? Why, why, WHY/_

_Why…_

_END FLASHBACK…_

The turmoil of emotions was too much to bear. The memories faded and I buried them again so they couldn't hurt me anymore. My throat constricted and I whimpered. Tears stung my eyes and I fought not to let them fall. My hand slowly fell away from Ray'jin's brow and I took in a shuddered breath. I was so caught up in trying to fight off the emotions and not look weak that I flinched when strong arms encircled me and kept me pinned against a large chest of solid muscle. I heard purring and instantly began to calm down. I now knew without a doubt that Ray'jin truly cared, that his intent was sure and true, even though it was hard to accept. I relaxed in his strong embrace and he slowly ran his claws through my damp hair. The motion was just lulling me to sleep. To think that so much has happened but little has changed.

"I think I understand you now." I barley heard him say as I slipped completely into peaceful sleep.

oOo

Raven: -sniffs- …that is so sweet.

Storm: -eye twitches- Remember when I ask if you value your life?

Raven: -sweat drops- But…it's a compliment…-dark grin-

Storm: -evil twisted grin- Alright you asked for it. OLIVES!

Raven: -major sweatdrop-…-CRASH- …-crash-…-crash-…-falls ten more levels-

Storm: -smug look- I love doing that…XD I have some cool news guys. I've finally got an MSN account! Look me up. My name is Storm and my email is…

electrimaniac at hotmail dot com

Just warn me first of who you are. I have a thing about stalkers. Lol So now…XD…I take my leave…-Poof-

-§torm

(SR333)

"This too will pass…"


	20. Unfinnished business

A/N

Storm: HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Raven: What, another chapter already Storm! –blinking in surprise-

Storm: Yeah…so I was on a writing spree this past week. It has been pretty boring most of the time, that's why I guess.

Raven: That's understandable. I agree that it has been boring. The night movies aren't cool and nobody's updating.

Storm: Dawley said that he would update on Final Hunt soon. –sighs- There hasn't been any thunderstorms for a while… Where for out thou brethren? –longing look- One blew up last night from my excitement for finishing this chap so soon but it was puny.

Raven: Yeah, I miss ranting over your true wake of destruction. But enough of that, we've got some reviews to reply to! –pulls out list and hands it to Storm-

Storm: **Prairiefire: **Thanx hey!

**Dawley: **Cool. Now I know that one of my goals is achieved!

**QOTRS: **I bet you are! –huge grin-

**Zillah 91: **-looks down on your lifeless body- Whoops…-revives Zillah-

Raven: Speaking of which, when is Zillah going to start his sequel for Child of the Hunt?

**M1dn1te999: **(sings)I Wish I Had An Angel, for my moment of love- …Oh shit! –tries to look innocent-

Raven: …XD

**Aquamum: **Awww…well the fic is still going strong. ANYTHING can happen! –grin-

**Jjvalour: **Not a tragedy type –tries to fight off dark side- …XD They say Ravens are superstitious creatures… Strange things can happen.

Raven: -BIG grin-

**Oak Tree Woman: **Thanx

**Raptor-Chick: **Nightwish! –runs about in circles- "Nemo my name forever more…" Oh! Now it's Planet Hell! …XD

Raven: -puts up sign that says: Know the glory that is Nightwish!-…-cranks up the volume.

Storm: Oh I just remembered something! Those of you who are reading Child Of Terrin by m1dn1te999, she won't be updating until after the 10th of November as she is VERY busy with her BIG and SCARY Finals Exams. Very important here in South Africa.

Raven: Oh, I remember THOSE. Good luck MN…you're gonna need it.

Storm: Right, enough now. NEXT CHAPPIE!

oOo

**Unfinished business. **

_Across a sea of jade _

_Lies a world torn asunder_

_Between two warring nations_

_Those who proceed _

_Take heed_

_All must choose a side._

_From: Guild Wars._

oOo

Storm awoke feeling trapped. She opened her eyes to find herself nestled in a nest of furs as well as nestled comfortably against something very large and warm. She slowly turned her head to find Ray'jin sleeping next to her.

Storm nearly sky rocketed.

She clamped her jaw shut and attempted to refrain her heart from blowing up like a blood bomb. She scanned her own mind to make sure that the events of last night was just as she had left and remembered it…

'_Thank…God.' _Storm thought with a heavy sigh of relief and tried to crawl out of that mess before fate pulled one of its 'spoke-too-soon' tricks.

Too late, Ray'jin had his arm around her.

'_Ah…hell.' _Storm thought in dread and mentally sweat dropped. That is the one moment in time where it's a damn miracle that you are blessed with telekinetic abilities and Storm wasted no time in using it to lift Ray'jin's trunk of an arm off her abdomen.

Storm sat bolt upright and watched as Ray'jin turned over. Her heart was thundering full blast now. If she didn't slow its rate down, blood would probably start squirting from places she never knew she had!

Storm quickly and carefully scooted off to the far corner of the bed and made a b-line for the automated door.

…locked.

'_Damn!' _Storm thought.

"Where are you going?" said a gruff voice.

'…_Double damn.' _Storm thought and turned to face Ray'jin, now fully awake. _'Come on…say something…'…_ "Morning." …_ 'That's it! Who comes up with 'Morning' these days…wait…you still need to answer his question! Come up with something fast! Say that you wanted to look around the ship!'… _"I wanted to look around the ship." Storm countered and stretched to make the 'tour around the ship' theory more convincing.

Ray'jin sat up and the furs fell to his lap, revealing his sculptured abs and chest.

Storm did a double take, _"Okay…what in hell happened to his armour! ….eep! Man I got to find something to distract my mind. Anything to spare myself."_

Ray'jin started making this funny clicking sound.

Storm nearly glared. He was laughing! "What is so funny?" she asked intrigued.

Ray'jin shook his head. "You!"

Storm was blinking, "Wha- …Me?!"

Ray'jin nodded, "Yes. I can sense your paranoia from here. Do you fear me?"

Storm eyes widened and she grew serious, "Fear. I not know the meaning of fear." She stated, letting the intensity of the situation cease to exist.

Ray'jin smirked and stood up

Storm raised an eyebrow at that and gave him a brief look up and down, trying to deduce what he was up too, _"At least he's wearing his loin cloth."_

Ray'jin proceeded to replace his armour. When he was done in reattaching his wrist blade fore armband, he confronted Storm, "Fight me."

Storm nearly gawked, "Are you serious!"

Ray'jin placed his hand on the panel and the door swished open, "Quite serious."

Storm walked out the door and bumped straight in Sarket nearly sending him stumbling backwards. She hadn't realized that she was already getting herself worked up for the match. "Oh, sorry!"

Sarket caught himself and growled.

Storm got confused at his growl because he didn't even come across as wanting to pound her into mush. Storm sensed his intent and she got the same answer.

Ray'jin clicked to get Storm's attention and she turned, "Sarket says that he in impressed that a female of your stature can be so strong.

Storm mouthed an 'Oh'

Sarket took one look at Storm then turned back to Ray'jin, _"Sleep well." _He taunted.

Ray'jin looked at him as if he was crazy.

Storm looked back at the two yautja talking amongst themselves, tying to figure them out.

Sarket continued, _"Come now Ray'jin, I've seen the way you look at her!"_

Storm looked up at Ray'jin to see his cheeks growing greener by the second. She nearly laughed, _'He's blushing! Oh cute. I wonder why. Wait, why does Sarket keep looking at Ray'jin and me with that smirk…Oh. My. GOD! No! …' _Storm's cheeks burned and she turned, hiding her face behind the arch of her left wing. "Ummm…I'll just…find my way so long…" she said pointing behind her.

Ray'jin called after her, "Hold on Storm, you can't wander the ship on your own.

Sarket looked back at Ray'jin, _"What have you planned?"_

Ray'jin turned back to Sarket, _"I want to test out her strengths in battle."_

Sarket's eyes widened, _"You're sure that's a good idea? This will be interesting." _He said, walking down the hall with Ray'jin.

Soon after the trio came to the door of the _kehrite_ and the metal doors swished apart to reveal the platform for which the room was named.

Storm climbed up onto the platform and turned to face Ray'jin as he too stepped onto the platform. "Any rules I should know about?" she asked.

"We'll use no weapons in this fight. Feel free to use any strategy you wish." He growled.

"Okay." Storm said in understanding and got herself ready.

Ray'jin also took his _hiju_, " _Dtai'k-dte! _What are you waiting for!" he barked.

Storm was surprised and countered quickly, "For you to make the first move!"

Ray'jin flexed his muscles, "If you insist." And he charged!

Storm eyes widened, _'YIPE! HE LOOKS JUST LIKE A BARGING T-REX!-'_ and she dived out of the way.

Ray'jin had to regain his composure before his momentum carried him off the edge of the _kehrite, _"Very clever but you have to do much better than that!" he rattled and swung out with his foot, aiming to trip her.

Storm was one step ahead, unfurled her wings with a loud WHOOSH and beat down hard so she was well clear of Ray'jin's foot and she dived down in a tackle.

Both Storm and Ray'jin were in a power struggle and Sarket stood by the sideline roaring for Ray'jin. Ray'jin overpowered Storm and she immediately mentally sweat dropped at the position of the situation. Her eyes flared and she pushed hard with her mind, sending Ray'jin off his feet and to the other side of the _kehrite_.

Storm was already on her feet when the Elder walked in.

Elder Dærensé's eyes widened. _"What's this?" _he rattled, _"A battle with Shur'ie and I wasn't informed!"_

Storm looked at the Elder at the sound of her yautjian name. Big mistake! Storm's instinct screamed 'DANGER!' and she snatched her sights back at Ray'jin in time to just stop his mighty fist. The shield came up but wasn't at full effect in time so it only absorbed the brunt of his power. It hurt. The punch felt like Rafe himself dealt it but then again, she was used to those by now. Storm narrowed her eyes and put her hand to her throbbing left cheek. "Enough…" she muttered and charged at Ray'jin, tackling him and sending them both out of the ring!

"Ah…Anyone up for a game of pick up sticks?" Storm muttered as she tried to pick herself up from the tangle of limbs.

Ray'jin found his breath, "I guess it's a draw. Well fought." He said as Storm offered her hand to aid him up.

Elder Dærensé approached them. _"Now that that scuffle is over, we have an urgent matter to attend to. We need to purge the planet of the Kainde Amedha Queen and her young." _

Ray'jin looked grim. It was a messy job but someone has to do it.

Storm remembered the words _Kainde Amedha _but didn't catch the inside scoop and looked up at Ray'jin for the much needed translation.

Ray'jin looked down at Storm, "There is still the matter of the Queen. She must be taken care of. Wait, you mentioned before that you escaped her so you know where her chamber is?"

Storm was eager to get back at the Queen for what she has done as well but now she just shook her head. "No. I was only confined in the room with all the eggs. The Queen came to me as a hallucination created by her own mind while she was in her chamber." she admitted.

"_C'jit!" _Ray'jin rattled and turned back to the elder.

Storm watched as Ray'jin spoke in his own language to the elder. He was probably relaying the information to him. She recognized the words _Kainde Amedha _again and then noticed Sarket gape wide-eyed at her. He probable just learned the 'interesting' news and she smirked. _'Damn…if only I had a camera.' _Then she had an idea…

"I'll go."

Now it was Ray'jin's turn to do a double take. "You can't go! There's that control chip! Plus it's very difficult to take down a Queen on your own. Trust me, I know."

Storm was determined but kept her cool, "Look. You'll stand a better chance with me. Strength in numbers, you know that. Besides…I have some unfinished business."

……..

Storm fingered the computer panel on her left arm, "So if I'm about to die, I set this thing's destruct sequence, right?"

Ray'jin looked up from reprogramming the computer's sensors, "You're very brave and taking a big risk under the circumstances."

"Well…I always wanted to go out with a bang but…this really wasn't what I had in mind." Storm said looking grim.

Ray'jin took a second to think, "Oh yes, human's interesting figures of speech. It suits the situation well."

Storm nodded, "Mm hmm. Guess I just won't die then." she said getting to her feet.

Elder Dærensé was standing nearby the controls and Sarket had steered the ship out of their orbit and was now steering it towards the remains of the U.S.S. Verloc.

Sarket rattled, _"Ready? I'm bringing the ship in above the jungle overlooking the Ooman ship."_

Ray'jin nodded and lead Storm to the ship's doors. Elder Dærensé approached with the energy bomb in his clawed hands. He handed the bomb to Storm and she took it with care, who wouldn't, "I wish I wasn't going all by myself." Storm exclaimed.

Ray'jin placed his clawed hand onto Storm's shoulder and gave it a slight shake, "You can do this. When you place the bomb, press this activation pad, you'll have about five of your minutes to get clear. We'll be waiting here for your return. Remember, time is everything in this matter, so clear the hive as fast as you can. I have faith in you."

Sarket tapped in the code sequence to open the ramp and the ship's large doors opened to reveal part of the jungle's canopy. The rest was the open canyon twisting and turning through the mountains, some of the highest pointing their snowy caps towards the sky and the Blue Giant sun now past its zenith, inching its way closer towards the eastern horizon.

Storm took in a deep breath and stretched her wings. The feathers brushed against each other as her wings unfurled. Then she drew her wings back

…and dived off the edge into open air.

The wind screamed past as she heard the Predators roar in awe and to spur her on. Storm tucked her wings to her sides and went down in a power dive. Then spread her large blue-black wings to come out of the dive in a wide arc. She rolled over, banked and circled around the updrafts of warm air churning up the sides of the canyon walls.

The Verloc was in total ruin! It was completely unsalvageable and certainly not space worthy at all. It looked like something completely strange what with all the xenomorph black resin coating the ship in places and the two gaping holes, one that she made some hours ago and the hole that the dropships blasted from inside the hanger.

Storm beat her wings so she hovered in the air to survey the ship for possible entry points. It looked like the hanger was it. She shifted the black armour plating so it would be comfortable. She still couldn't believe how light it was, it didn't damper her flight at all!

Storm looked up at the ship floating weightlessly in the sky. The door was still open and her superb vision allowed her to see Ray'jin and Elder Dærensé looking back at her.

Storm nodded in readiness. This was it and she twirled through the air and glided into the hanger…

oOo

Raven: -gapes- How can you just…leave it there! Sure, it's a mild cliffy…but the suspense is killing me!

Storm: Hey! You rhymed!

Raven: AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!

Storm: Well look at it this way. You can pretty much guess what the next chappie is about.

Raven: I don't wanna think, I wanna read! Or I'll say olives!

Storm: -unfazed-

Raven: Rice

Storm: -still unfazed- I love being me.

Raven: darn…-grins- …Ginyu Force.

Storm: -sweatdrop-

Raven: …Y…M…C…A!

Strom: -hears ground start to crumble- …-grabs Raven- I'll take you down with me!

Raven: AAAAAAAHHHHHH!! –falls into bottomless pit with Storm-

(SR333)

-§torm

"When you're going through Hell… Keep going!"


	21. QUEEN!

A/N: Storm: Have you noticed in the end of the AVP movie where Lex and Scar are running from the ground caving in. When they do that final jump. If you look closely, you'll notice that when Scar stands up and looks back, you'll see that the clan mark etched in his mask…is the wrong way round… Like a mirror image. Anyways…XD…I got another chapter! Believe it…or not!

Raven: -gapes wide eyed- Let me guess… Bordom? Or did that hypnotist 'tweak' your brain a little?

Storm: -smirk- 1. Maybe. And 2. He tried 4 times to get me under and failed outright! STORMS WILL NEVER BE RULED!

Raven: Oh. Well in that case this is like…world record! OMG! 3 days!!! –bounces-

Storm: -pulls out chapter and teases the audience-

Raven: -stops and stares at chapter- Storm, that's not fair.

Storm: ….XD

Audience: -tackles Storm-

Storm: -sweatdrop- AAAAHHHHH!!

Raven: I GOT IT!! –runs out with paper- Wait…these are the review replies!

Storm: -snatches paper back- IF you don't mind…

**M1dn1te999: **-glares at Uni- Just remember that Rave is close to web casting you guys in the hypnotist show. (to Raven) Got your camera?

Raven: -lifts camera- Right here…XD

**Oak tree woman: **-bows- Thank you…Thank you.

**Dawley: **Thanks! Special treat coming up!

**Aquamum: **You're gonna love this! –grin-

**Raptor chick: **Thanx! I'll be sure to look it up.

**QOTRS: **Thanks a lot, I've been aiming for a lot of things to add a sort of realism so you guys can relate to my characters and enjoy their company.

Storm: Now if you guys will just step down…here's the next chapter!

oOo

**QUEEN!**

_Storm's POV…_

The air flowed over my wings and I could feel each flight feather vibrate, especially the tips. No words could describe the pleasure of flight without the aid of mechanical assistance. It provided such a thrill. I was _made_ for this.

The light dimmed instantly and the air changed as I glided silently into the hangar. I always wondered how my wings didn't make that much noise during flight and the only logical answer that I could come up with is that perhaps my genetic makeup held such alleles that gave soft downy feathers, probably from an owl.

Whatever the reason, I was grateful for it 'cause I could float about like a shadow, dark and silent like a true raptor of the night, a _hunter! _Now I know why the Predators enjoy the thrill of hunting so much, I couldn't get enough of it! I braked and dropped to the ground and found my feet on the tacky floor at the top of the grid stairs once more.

My vision found what was left of the interior hangar bay doors covered in the same black resin. The smell of decay and ammonia tainted the air heavily. Sepulchral truly described this place best. All tomb like, gloomy, dismal, dark… and plagued by death.

I shifted the bomb under my left arm and listened carefully. The Xenos were trying to be quiet but I could still hear them shifting about in the interior of the ship. The Queen was still here too. I could feel her presence like a terrible burden.

_**(So you've come for me)**_

I stopped dead in my tracks. Figures that my cover would be blown so soon… _SHIT!_

My eyes scanned every conceivable detail of the walls to make sure nothing was camouflaged or lurking about.

Nothing.

I sighed and proceeded further into the hive. I got as far as the true gates of hell, the interior bay doors, or what was exposed of them under the dropship that I threw here, and stopped in thought. The Queen was clever. Make no mistake about that. So why haven't there been any attacks yet? She's probably scheming something much bigger, hoping that I'll proceed deeper into the depths of this death ship. Which will be much easier for an attack. The breadth of the corridors is too small to accommodate my wingspan if I get into a scuffle. I'll have the advantage here in the hangar, which is large enough to hold _five _dropships. Perfect for aerial combat!

I smirked _/Sorry your mightiness, I'm not falling for it. /_

I heard an almighty shriek reverberate throughout the ship. Yup…I pissed her off.

_**(You're a lot smarter than I gave you credit for)**_

_/It comes with the package / _I answered back.

There was silence all of a sudden and my hackles rose so high, you'd think they'd gone through the roof. What you would normally call a 'sixth sense' went completely berserk, where every fiber of your being is screaming of danger that would inflict pain and suffering upon you.

And that's just what happened. My eyes blazed and I pushed off into the air in time to dodge just what I expected would happen. My eyes wondered over to the source of such horrifying intent.

Or should I say …_sources _

There where facehuggers

Hundreds of them!

Crawling out of every hole and fold that my vision couldn't see past!

My skin prickled and the little pin feathers on the back of my neck stood on end as I rose higher so I hovered just under the ceiling. That was way to close for comfort. The little eight-legged freaks hissed and spat and congregated below, climbing over each other in a huge pile. Some even tried jumping but even the strength behind their spindly legs couldn't bring them up to my level.

My mind was working on overdrive and I needed a plan to get rid of these things quickly and easily.

My eyes fell upon the drop ship.

_Perfect. _I placed my hand forward and mentally took hold of the beaten drop ship once more and made it skid across the floor beneath me.

Complete wipeout!

I smirked in triumph and nearly retched from a smell of sulphur wafting up from the smear of acidic blood eating away at the floor.

The Queen shrieked again at the sudden deaths of her young ones. Hey. Not my problem, they started it!

Something pale caught my eye and I looked to see that some of the little buggers escaped my oversized bug swatter. They were climbing up the walls and aiming to come at me by using the ceiling!

_Clever little shits._

But I was one step ahead of them and decided that enough was enough. I put the shield up and when they pounced, they would just slide off the smooth surface of my impregnable mental barrier and fall to the floor again. I would easily get rid of them, manipulating any surrounding tools and crates. Normal things you'd find in a hangar.

The Queen was royally pissed off when I squashed the last face hugger like the bug it was and entered the corridors branching away from the hangar. I figured that if I could place this bomb sort of close to the Verloc's engines then the blast would catch the fuel lines as well. More fuel more the fire and I grinned evilly.

_I love being me._

I wound up in the mess hall, as far as I could tell it was the mess hall.

_Ewww…_

I lifted my foot from some slimy patch on the floor.

_Remind me to never take an unguided tour through a Xeno hive…again. Now to put this somewhere… _

I looked about for a good place to stash this warhead where it could cause my predicted chain reaction. I looked at the kitchen.

_Hmmm…Kitchen's good. There's flammable gas in there too. _I thought with a dark grin. And placed the bomb on the service counter. Then something caught my eye.

I stepped up onto the step that lies before the large observation window that shows off the Verloc's left rear engines. I remembered like all the times before in the past few months, how I always stood here with Tania, thinking and letting my thoughts wander amongst the stars. I looked down to see the coffee stain still on the floor. My eyes brimmed.

_Tania…_

A warm glow flowed through me, soothing away the cold lump in my chest and I smiled.

_Thank you Tan. I'll never forget you._

Now was the time to be strong and get this over with. The sooner I get out of here, the better I'll feel

I located the bomb and placed two fingers near the activation pad but I stopped.

My hackles rose sky high again and I could hear that dreaded ticking sound of silent claws. I quickly pressed the activation pad and the devise lit up with red flickering lights shifting along the obsidian screen. I turned to come face to face with tall, dark and ugly that had escaped the ship that the fake Dr. Philips was in, launching right at me!

Power tapped and the blue field rippled under the impact and I got slammed into the wall. My mouth was open in a silent scream as I stared up at the deadly inner jaws pounding the field, each slam making a ripple like a pebble disturbing the slate surface of a pond.

_You worthless son of a bitch!_

With that thought, I sent the freak careening into the opposite wall and plowed steel tables and stools on him for good measure and high-tailed it out of there.

Talk about leaving a trail of destruction in my wake!

Not long and I heard the large alien shrieking in blind fury and the crashing of tumbling metal.

Soon after, it was bounding down the corridor after me! Geez! … and I thought Ray'jin was scary!

The hangar was ahead. I had already lost about a minute no thanks to Mr. Bad Attitude and seconds later I could hear an almighty pound and shriek shake the interior of the ship.

I burst into the hangar and my blood ran cold as I looked at the floor erupting upwards. First a large ebony celtic crest rose up followed by two clawed arms, a large jet-black skeletal tail twisted up out of the black abyss, whipping the air with the jagged blade at the tip.

_Holy…SHIT!_

The crest lifted revealing teeth… lots of huge…silver…teeth. You know what. I think miss high-and-mighty wins the T-rex title.

I heard scuttling behind me. B.A was back.

_**(Now DIE!)**_

I looked back to see her over sized tail crashing down on me. I dived to the right and leaped off the railing into the air. Her tail collided with the ground, making the grid stairs implode under the impact.

I mentally sweat dropped. _To hell with this… _and I put up my mental shield up once more. B. A. launched off the railing after me. I swooped around dodging another stab of the Queen's tail, which plowed into the wall as I barreled into B. A. like a bowling ball.

We went crashing through some other crates and I swooped up again as the Queen screeched in fury. She threw crates and swiped at me with her powerful arms, trying to whack me out of the air.

I couldn't keep my mind torn in-between two problems, so I needed to get rid of B.A. fast so I could focus on getting past the Queen. Time was ticking, who knew how long I had, and that over grown hell spawn was stopping me from escaping. It seemed that she wanted revenge over the deaths of her young and refused to relent until she saw me dead.

As I said before: They started it.

_Bitch…_

I flew over her head and she shrieked and snapped at me with her secondary jaws. I suddenly had this crazy idea and I circled around and just at the right time, came down and nabbed her on the top of her crest. I'd challenge any snake kisser to pull that off and I smirked in triumph. The Queen roared.

_**(You dare to taunt me!)**_

_/Hey, you're the one who started this little fight…remember. / _I spat. I noticed B. A. pull himself from the debris. His tail was broken but it didn't stop him from coming at me again. At that moment I was performing aerial stunts near the drop ship, avoiding the Queen's attacks. B.A. scurried up the side of the drop ship. My eyes narrowed and I mentally upturned the drop ship and made sure it landed on top of the Xenomorph.

_Ohhh…that's gonna leave a mark for sure._

I heard a tell tale triple beep from inside the ship and I grew panicked. _The bomb! _I didn't have much time left!

I dived down in an attempt to go under the Queen's legs to get out but she was pretty fast for her size and succeeded in giving me a good whack with her tail. I went careening into the collapsed grid stairs and she stalked after me. The shield held strong but the force of her poundings on it was doing a real number on what brain cells I had left.

Not to mention that because of her, I couldn't escape, and because of that, I was getting mad. I threw her of me and she staggered backwards, trying to keep her balance. I pulled myself from my hole and puffed out my chest in challenge. Then something in my mind clicked. My hackles reached space this time.

_No…_

_-Bip-beep-beep-beeeeeeep……-_

NOOO!

My pupils dilated. I didn't know if I could survive this one. But I just did what my instincts screamed at me and somehow contracted the shield slightly. It grew brighter in its blue hue and everything went silent…

oOo

I didn't think much about oomans until I saw Shur'ie that fateful day. I know I had pursued the prophecy since I heard it. I've believed it since my young days. I even personally believed that I would be the one to go out of my way to find her and do one of the greatest honours any Yautja would ever dream about.

That dream came true but I refuse to accept that it had ended so…quickly.

At first I denied these strange feelings that I developed but now I can't seem to repel them. Now I know they're true. But now…I can't seem to believe what I'm witnessing as I feel the ship shake around me. My eyes must deceive me yet it is indeed all real and unreal at the same time.

The Ooman ship just erupted before me and was consumed in the spherical force of the energy bomb.

Shur'ie never left the ship…

_No…_

I had to see if this was all some sort of trickery and I lifted my wrist computer to my face. It also seemed to agree with my worst fear.

Shur'ie's computer signal was…gone…

oOo

Raven: -jaw hits the floor- Oh you didn't…

Storm: -grins- I just did

Raven: …you didn't…

Storm: …XD I did!

Raven: -rushes Storm- AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!

Storm: -poof-

Raven: GET BACK HERE!!

(SR333)

-§torm

"You're only as bad as you wanna be…"


	22. Sentenced to Solitude

A/N:

Raven: -speechless- Bordom?

Storm: -smirk- …-lifts hand to shade eyes- HOME RUN!

Raven: Home run. What do you mean; "Home run"? –gasps- …no

Storm: …XD

Raven: Noo…you can't be serious. You just can't be!

Storm: -whistles innocence-

**Dawley: **…XD Whoever said it was the end? –grins evilly- Thanks hey, I think it was my most evil chappie, yes?

**Aquamum: **I'm very glad you liked it. As for those who don't know, Shur'ie is Storm in the yautjian (sp?) language. Don't believe me. Check the translations forum.

**Oak tree woman: **XD…you'll have to read to find out!!

**Zillah 91: **Thank you…XD

**Raptor Chick: **-nods head- DEATH TO SPIDERS! …and face huggers …ya…DIE! The plushies sound cute! Except the facehugger 1. I battle to get the DVD in the machine what with that ugly …thing on the cover of the disk –shudders- The Elder could watch over you… -sweatdrop- Ok…disturbing thought…

oOo

**Sentenced to solitude.**

_Ray'jin's POV…_

I suppressed the roar that was threatening to burst from my chest. Shur'ie couldn't be dead, she just couldn't. I looked at Elder Dærensé and he too looked to shocked to speak.

"_I suppose it's over now. She died honourably." _ Elder Dærensé rattled and turned to start his way towards the control room.

_That's it? _I thought in dread and looked back at the thick smoke and debris begin to subside. I guess you can't blame me for having some hope left but now…I suppose it doesn't matter anymore.

I can't show any weakness.

Shur'ie is dead.

It's time to go home.

I turned to prepare to close the ships doors.

…_/RRRRRay'jin. / _

I spun on my heel and automatically looked at the settling debris. _What was that? That was…inside my head. It sounded just like…_

…_Shur'ie!_

I was sure of it. I needed to get down there before the ship broke the planets atmosphere, but if I just tell the Elder that I heard her in my mind, he'll think I've gone mad! Wait…

I rushed into the control room. Elder Dærensé and Sarket turned their gaze on me.

"_I wish to go down and reclaim what's left of her body so she can receive an honoured burial. Shur'ie deserves it for what she has done."_

It was the only logical request to make. Either way, it would get me down there. Elder Dærensé nodded in confirmation and Sarket steered the ship around.

I reattached my mask and leaped off the ship before it even touched the ground and I ran up to what was left of the ooman ship. Most of the frame had survived and some of the ship's body lay in charred heaps. I just knew that Shur'ie was in there.

I was fortunate to see some of the debris crumble. My thermal vision would be useless as the whole area was alive with heat from the explosion so I approached the heap of debris and started pulling away chunks of rubble.

Then I saw feathers.

_Shur'ie! _I freed her body. What surprised me most was that she was still in one piece.

Her eyes slowly opened. Her eyes are the most precious I have ever seen. They reminded me of the vast universe and all of the mysteries and dark secrets it held. "Oh Storm, thank _paya." _I said holding her close.

She smiled, "You heard me…" she managed to say before giving into exhaustion.

I picked her up and took her back into the ship. Elder Dærensé and Sarket were too surprised for words. Technically, Shur'ie's body should have been completely destroyed from the force of the explosion but I was relieved all the same. I'll have to find out how she did that. In fact, it was a miracle.

I located the medical bay and placed her on one of the tables. No doubt that after she went through in her life, she'll most likely freak out when she comes to. I just wish I could do something for her. We had the basis of ooman medical files but with her it's a different matter altogether.

Elder Dærensé joined me afterwards to perform physical exams and X-rays of her systems. Fortunately she had no broken bones but what interested me was that her bones were far denser yet light. In my studies I had learned about some species with a similar bone structure, most likely to make flight easier. For now, she just suffered from fatigue and nothing else.

I remembered something that she said about some chip that was in her chest cavity and found the offending chip. That could be easily removed with microsurgery. I didn't want to risk damaging chest muscles that she needed to fly, so we inserted one of the surgery tools below her modified sternum and removed the chip. We detected another in her brain as well. _Paya. What those bad bloods did is frightening, no wonder she hates them so much._ The sad thing is we couldn't remove that chip with the risk of brain damage. I know I did all that I could but I still felt that I had failed her in some way, so I just took watch by her side, praying to _Cetanu _to let her be.

oOo

_Storm's POV…_

My eyes fluttered open and I squinted at the light. For a moment I pondered over where I was now. Was this heaven? I remembered the explosion. Am I alive or dead? The whole ship erupted in a bright blue light. I had closed my eyes from the glare. It was also silent. I must have contracted the shield to the point were it closed off any molecule sized holes, making it concentrate. Perhaps that's why everything went silent as well. Not even sound waves could reach me.

I turned my head to the side to see Ray'jin there beside me. He had my right hand in his own but he didn't seem to register that I had awakened. I squeezed his hand slightly to tell him.

He snapped out of his own reverie. He must've been light years away and I smiled at that.

"Storm, you're awake!" he chattered, "I thought…"

"Surely you had more faith than that." I said smirking. When I caught site of the equipment surrounding me I nearly shrieked! I sat upright, my wings unfurling and sweeping up a storm and Ray'jin tried to stop me.

"Its okay Storm, really. We haven't done anything except remove the chip in your chest." Ray'jin rattled.

I stopped and stared at him. His eyes didn't lie and I calmed down. The Elder walked in, _"What is going on?!" _he growled

Ray'jin turned to him, _"Shur'ie got spooked by the medical equipment. It's a long story."_

The Elder sighed, _"Is she alright?"_

Ray'jin nodded and I watched as the elder approached me. My eyes widened slightly as the elder placed his hand on my shoulder and shook it gently, _"M-di H'dlak." _He rattled. _"Ell-osde yeyinde paya. Nain-desintje-de Shur'ie."_

The elder stood straight and nodded before heading back to the control room. I just stared after him. _Okay…just what did he say? _And I looked at Ray'jin.

Ray'jin had his head cocked to one side, "The Elder said that you are brave and conquering. The pure win."

I felt mildly flattered and found myself in one of those positions where you don't know what to do with yourself. I closed my wings again and smiled warmly, "Gosh…thanks."

I had been feeling the dull pain of the surgery in my chest and it was driving me mad. I felt that familiar warm feeling bubble up and the pain dissipated. I looked down in alarm and placed my hand where the pain had disappeared.

Ray'jin purred, "Are you in pain?"

I shook my head. "No."

Ray'jin looked puzzled, "Let me see."

I nearly blushed. Why me? At least I wouldn't have to reveal anything and that much I was grateful for.

I watched Ray'jin remove the gauze above my bare stomach and I could see some blue gel on it.

"What! The wound is completely gone!" he clicked in surprise and looked up at me questionably.

I shrugged, "I'm thinking it was Tania." I said, giving my honest opinion. "She did give me her power of healing."

His eyes widened in surprise. He was too speechless for words. I didn't blame him.

oOo

Later, Sarket was surprised too at my recovery and I explained to them all how I defied death…

I looked up at Ray'jin, "Try to punch me. Just don't hit too hard are you'll probably hurt yourself."

Ray'jin's head snapped back like he got hit in the face.

"Come on I dare ya." I taunted to get him to act.

He hesitated at first and tried to land a punch. His fist connected with the shield and he stared in surprise at the hazy blue field under his hand.

I let the shield down and his hand fell away. "That is how I stopped the explosion from killing me." I explained.

oOo

Two days past and I spent my time gazing at the stars and exchanged tales with Ray'jin of our lives. We cremated Tania's body and ejected the ashes into space. I figured that if Tania was indeed the one in that prophecy, then I figured that she would want to return to this starry grave like she had before. I knew that she would want that.

Gradually we entered another system that happened to have twin stars orbiting each other. We neared a double ring Saturn-like planet with three moons on the inner ring of the solar system. The planet was huge and green like and very similar to earth with wide blue oceans and continents. The continents however were equatorial and most of the land ran along the equator. On closer inspection I could see some tropical storms running rampant along the north and south coasts. I smiled in anticipation. Hot and stormy, just the way I like it!

oOo

All hope of feeling like I would eventually be accepted into a society was on the line the next day. We had boarded one of the main ships that orbited the planet. My sudden appearance caused an uproar, literally. I stood before the Predator council, the arbitrators, and Elders were talking among themselves about my fate no doubt. One of the guards hissed at me and Ray'jin merely snarled back in warning. I on the other hand ignored the bastard. He wasn't worthy of my attention. It seemed that every society had its problems.

_Pity._

Ray'jin accompanied me. I did my part in respecting the Elders but they didn't seem like they were in a pleasant mood to allow a 'human' to live among them.

"_She's an Ooman! She can't stay here." _ One of the Elders ranted on unbeknown to my understanding as they were all talking in their own language.

Ray'jin stepped in, "Understand that _Shur'ie _is not completely _ooman._" He said out loud in English. The older Predators understood English, some by experience and others with the aid of their masks.

I was grateful that Ray'jin gave me an insight as to what the elders were on about and my blood boiled at the uncanny way the Elders were treating me like I was lower than shit. I did nothing to retaliate but stood tall, kept my eyes low and unfurled my wings slightly to prove the point that I was certainly not human.

One of the mask less Elders raised a brow, "_Storm you say? And you certainly believe that this is the one that prophecy foretold? What honour does she have to prove that she is?"_

Ray'jin spoke again, "Storm succeeded in eliminating the _Kainde Amedha_ infestation along with the Queen on the jungle planet."

Out of nowhere, one of the Elders had turned on his translator and spoke, "And what does she have to prove this?"

I froze. From the tales that Ray'jin told me, body scars and the skulls of your prey proved that.

…and I didn't have either one.

_Shit!_

"Storm, please…prove yourself." Ray'jin whispered his plea.

The same Elder barked out, "Enough of this. Take that… '_ooman'_ back."

I was boiling but I couldn't do anything…not here-

Raj'jin objected, "She can't go back! The bad bloods that created her will destroy her!"

The next thing happened so fast. Some guards grabbed me and hauled me off. Ray'jin just stood there with his mandibles open slightly, indicating his rage as his words went unheard. Why wasn't he doing anything? This was not right. I didn't even have a decent chance to prove myself. Knowing the mood they're in, they'll probably think I'm dangerous and untrustworthy, heck! They _were _deeming me as unworthy… _What the hell!?_ …

I was forced into some space pod, which sealed before I could escape. I screamed. Some gas seeped into the pod. For a moment I thought it would kill me but my thoughts quickly grew foggy…

I steadily fell asleep, being taken back to Earth against my will.

oOo

Storm: There ya go!

Raven: "…" –jaw hits the floor- Is that it!

Storm: …XD … "This is not the end…just the eye" I wish to thank each and every one of you guys for your support as it is so cool to see your names!

Zillah 91: The cliffy war was fun while it lasted! XD Get that sequel of yours up soon hey! And thanks for being a loyal reviewer!

M1dn1te999: Midnite, this is for you! And I'm betting I'm going to pay for this dearly this weekend –sweatdrop- ehehe…

VampiricAmaya666: Thus completing S.A's evil trio! XD I hope to see more fics!

DalouA: Even though you haven't reviewed in a long time, I haven't forgotten about you! Keep up the good work hey! You must write more!

Queen of the Red Skittle: It is such a blessing to see your review pop up in my inbox! I get so bubbly and excited! Update hey! White Kingdom is growing cobwebs!

Prairiefire: Thanx a lot for your support! SVU's getting dusty! UPDATE!

Dawley: Your reviews also make my day. Even though you live on the opposite side of the Indian Ocean, that won't stop me from saying … -stands at shore line- THANX …did you hear that? If not, I'll go a little louder…-deep breath- lol

Aquamum: Same above for you, THANX FOR YOUR REVIEWS! …Hey I rhymed.

Oak tree woman: Loved your support. Don't despair. Like Zillah 91 said, "One storm's end is another's beginning." I actually loved that line!

Raptor chick: Thanx hey! NIGHTWISH RULZ!

Jjvalour: Don't bite my head off! Hehe Think of it this way, it won't stop the sequel from having a happy ending.

Minkutei: Thank you too hey! ♥ your reviews!

Anyone else I forgot can bop me on the head with a feather pillow. Otherwise, watch this space for news on the sequel.

Now I'd better take my leave before I get in trouble… -Poof-

(SR333)

- §torm


	23. NEWSFLASH!

Storm: I see everyone is royally mad at me…XD Throw a smile on your dial guys, I've been working hard and my brain is mush,-

Raven: Brain pate anyone?

Storm: -chuckles- Whatever. So… about the sequel…

-throws a lucky draw-

And the answer is… YES! Look for: Flight to Honour …XD I'll put that up now…

And check my Myspace! My homepage is available in my profile. I hope it works. I'm still busy on that…

Later…

-§torm


End file.
